The Fox, The Raven, and The Cat raise hell
by bloodmank
Summary: this time, no devils, and as always, the storyline is going to twist into so many different directions that some people won't be able to remember which way is up. naruto x hinata OC x OC. l8er
1. Chapter 1

The Fox, The Raven, and The Cat Raise Hell

Chapter 1 – Kyuubi's Attack, Karasu's Deal

-=-

_Konohagakure no Sato – Hi no Mori_

_October 10__th__ – Twelve Years before Start of Series_

"Hokage-sama!!" Namikaze Minato rubbed his ears after the screech of his former teammate, now secretary, Haruno Yasha screeching out at him in distress. "There are demons at the gate, our ninja began defending and they started attacking us!"

"Demons… plural…? I really don't like the sound of that…" Minato mused, looking at Yasha as if to say to explain.

"Well, the Kyuubi no Kitsune and Nibi no Nekobaa are attacking us. And we have reports of the Eitouingu no Karasu flying in our direction as well!" Minato cursed at that revelation. He looked out toward the hospital where his son had just been born, his other family resting there right along with him. His wife would surely die of the stress if she were to learn of the massive demonic attack that was occurring.

"Yasha, send word to the hospital that they are to keep my family asleep and accounted for, any more stress and Kushina-chan is sure to die of it all. I won't allow that to happen." Minato said, looking out toward the hospital again. "And send my son here to me. I want to see him before I condemn the fates of those needed to save my home."

"At once, Hokage-sama." Yasha said, bowing before vanishing.

--

Roughly ten minutes later, Jiraiya appeared in a Shunshin, holding a small blonde baby-boy.

"So, she sent you instead?" Minato asked, biting his thumb as he prepared to perform a summoning, forcing himself to ignore the pain as he drew some blood.

"I'm much faster than your old teammate. I can guess you're going to, but please tell me you don't intend on sealing the Kyuubi inside the boy?" Jiraiya asked, Minato saying nothing. "I was afraid of that. Any last requests, Minato?"

"Just one. See if you can survive sealing the Nibi into some kind of bottle or jar or something. Naruto was the only baby born today, and even if another was born, we can't condemn two children." Minato said, taking his son into his arms. He slammed his left hand into the ground, a massive puff of smoke appearing before showing the Chief-Toad, Gamabunta, ready to go, pipe and all.

"**What's going on here Minato? I see two of the more dangerous Bijuu attacking, surely you don't mean to have me defeat them, do you? I still have to achieve my dream of making a Snake-skin wallet." **The Chief might not have been the most motivated, but he was certainly confident in his personality.

"Just need you to distract them for a little while, Chief!" Minato shouted, Gamabunta smiling as he leapt off with tremendous force in his jump.

--

Gamabunta landed directly in front of the Kyuubi, sword drawn into a defensive position. **"Hurry it up, Minato! I won't be able to hold him off for long, hurry and do what you're gonna do!"**

Minato nodded grimly as he finished drawing the seal on his son's stomach. He performed a few hand seals before shoving all the chakra he had in his body into his jutsu with his palms and fingers together, standing straight up. "Shiki Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Shiki Fuujin!"

And so, the Kyuubi was sealed. Minato fell to the ground, soulless and dead. Nibi sent Gamabunta back to the summons realm before being sealed away into a Katana, the only heirloom left to Jiraiya before he was orphaned sixty years prior to the attack.

Sarutobi Hiruzen descended to the battleground where Jiraiya laid unconcious, suffering from chakra depravation. He picked up the young crying blonde son of the Yondaime Hokage, his old heart nearly stopping when he looked up to see the Eitouingu no Karasu perched on her legs, standing at seven feet tall with her two original wings hiding her others from view, having them folded over the others.

"**You are Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, son of Sarutobi Toma and Sarutobi Shina, husband of the two years deceased Sarutobi Rena, father of Sarutobi's Asuma and Shinoba, the supposed 'God of Shinobi'. I come to you with a request."** The great raven requested, Sarutobi picking up the Katana with Nibi inside it.

"And what would that be? I'm not too sure what a demon would want of me that if within human limits, please enlighten me." Sarutobi said, holding the Katana in a ready position.

"**As you probably know from mythology, the Bijuu are the leaders of the clans that share their species, I am the leader of the Oni Karasu clan. Unfortunately, like humans have the stereotype of demons being evil, my clan holds the stereotype of humans being unfit to have anything to do with them. My son, born three days ago, is half-human. He has been forbidden from ever entering the Oni Karasu clan forest. I request that you keep him safe, and allow him to grow with human morals as his human Otou-san had, they were what made me love him."** The raven explained, lifting her giant right wing, revealing three other wings cradling a small baby boy with black hair, silver streaks in the hair.

Sarutobi looked at the small boy, and nodded with his arms outstretched. The large raven walked closer and Sarutobi took the boy. "I accept, I hope that someday you can see your son again."

"**I will see him again. Just make sure that two things happen."** A purple light shone in front of the large black bird, revealing a scroll the size of the scroll of sealing. It was purple with silver tribal markings on it, the ends black. **"Keep this safe, and when he reaches thirteen years of age, give it to him and teach him summoning. I will meet him as soon as he is strong enough to prove to the Oni Karasu Council that he is strong enough to be called my son. Meaning, he will not be able to see me until he can output at least four wings-worth of chakra."**

"Very well. I will see you when I see you, I guess. I bid you farewell, great Karasu-Jotei." The giant bird nodded, before gaining an aura the same purple color as the scroll on the ground, taking of and vanishing midflight in a flash of purple. Sarutobi noticed a small note left on the boy. It had his name. "Hm, Uzumaki Naruto, son of the Yondaime and the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki, and Karasu Rikou, son of the Oni Karasu Jotei. You will be strong, Naruto, and you will hold knowledge, Rikou. I wonder which will be more useful…"


	2. frcrh ch 2

prepare for some serious storyline manipulation, if you don't know what that means, leave this story, you aren't welcome, NEXT CHAPTER!

The Fox, The Raven, and The Cat raise hell

chapter 2 - hell in the hyuuga compound

_konoha, one year later, hinata's birthday_

"ha! rikou, I cannot believe you did that!" naruto said as rikou came back from detonating a smoke bomb filled with powdered paint.

"it's not over yet, all the doors have been rigged to activate one of my karasu gihou, and soak everyone in the room once one of them is opened, in short, if they try to leave, the paint will get wet, and activate the normal properties, covering them in acryllic paint." rikou said with a grin.

"isn't acryllic paint totally permanent?" hinata asked.

"yes, and?" rikou asked his grin getting wider.

"rikou, you really are a master at these pranks, I think this friendship is gonna be a really interesting one." naruto said watching paint covered civilians walking out of the building.

"hey, naruto," rikou said, "you wanna know why pranks are good ninja training?" rikou asked earning a nod from a curious naruto. "because, you can practice stealth, and speed." rikou said as the civilians got closer.

"wha?"

"it was him!" rikou yelled pointing at naruto as he and hinata turned tail and ran like hell.

"oh! why you little! get back here!!!" naruto yelled chasing after him.

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_the hyuuga estates, 6:00 p.m., same day_

"hey there mr. hyuuga, thanks for getting rid of that mob for us!" rikou said gratefully to hinata's father, hiashi hyuuga.

"you're just lucky your karasu gihou can make it look like I somehow gave you a beating, even though you managed to murder everyone who's ever tried." hiashi said.

"hey, hinata," naruto whispered, "I have a bad feeling about tonight, who did you guys just make a treaty with?"

"um, kumo, why?" hinata asked before her whisker marks started to tingle suspiciously. they noticed the black lines in rikou's hair were now silver, and his eyes seemed sharper, more alert, more suspicious.

"do you think we could stay the night? I don't think we can afford to leave you here alone tonight." naruto said seriously, a rare trait for any of the three of them, being konoha's three number one jokers.

"well, if we explain the situation to father, he's more than likely to agree." hinata said. "excuse me, father?" hinata asked getting her father's attention. "naruto and I have an odd feeling that something bad is going to happen, my whisker marks are tingling in an odd way, just like they were when I came home and you yelled at me after my first prank, I think it means trouble's near, and naruto wants to know if he and rikou can stay over tonight, just in case something goes wrong." hinata said to her father, knowing he wouldn't be too keen about the request to allow two boys her age stay the nivht for a reason he had no physical proof of, at least, he didn't know there was any physical proof.

"I have to agree sir, the stripes in my hair only turn silver when danger is just around the corner, and my eyes have always sharpened whenever my instincts felt something bad on the way." rikou said seriously.

"rikou? serious? okay hinata, I believe you, they can stay, but rikou, make sure you cards are always within your reach!" hiashi said as if he was issuing an S-rank mission to the ANBU black ops, and considering their skill level, there wasn't much difference, even though they were only four years old.

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_hinata's room, 6:45 p.m., same day_

"naruto, hinata, it's time you gained your first tail, the manefestation of your demonic power, each tail has 53 tenketsu points, so jyuuken isn't anywhere near useful against us. I don't get tails, but wings, however to gain them I have to work twice as hard, since I can only gain wings in pairs. now, meditate and speak with the bijuu sealed inside of you. once you have established the mental link, your first tail will automatically materialize. we don't have much time, I'm sure you can feel their presence here now, we must begin, they're going to wait until most of us are asleep, so make sure you only look asleep, and be sure you're ready soon, I'm going to work on realeasing my first pair of wings. begin!" rikou said as naruto and hinata slipped into the lotus position and began to conciously enter their sub-concience.

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_naruto's sub-conscience_

when naruto woke up, he was in a dank, murky sewer, pipes angry red with chakra, flowing towards a different part of the sewer. naruto began walking in the direction the pipes were flowing and came across a large gate with a piece of paper holding a colossal gate shut, the paper bearing the kanji meaning 'seal'.

"hello?" naruto asked, feeling a presence behind the gate.

**"huh? well, well, well, what do you know, welcome kit, I was wondering when you were gonna decide to pay me a visit. what is it that you want, youki, physical strength, height-**

"my first tail." naruto cut in causing the eyes visible behind the cage to widen in surprise.

**"already? you're gonna have to fill me in here kit, I've been asleep for roughly four years, all I remember is making a deal to see to it that you befriend eitouingu's heir-**

"that;s been done, he's really alot of fun to be around." naruto said, cutting the kyuubi off again, "so, kyuubi, about my tail,"

**"okay, first, we're gonna have to clear up this kyuubi business, kyuubi no kitsune is merely my title, my name is Kurui, of fire country, the original kyuubi no kitsune was my predecessor, and I have been kyuubi no kitsune for 3,500 years, now, you're first tail will materialise once you return to your world, and I will be able to speak with you through your thoughts once you leave, when you return to your world you will also be able assume your kitsune form, in which event you become, mugen junjou, now, return to your friends, we will continue this after you dispose of the intruder that you pointed out earlier to nibi's heir."**

-----------------------------------_------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

_hinata's sub-conscience_

hinata sat up in a grassy field, with many flowers, but no trees, it was very easy to see what stood out. which is how she noticed the 100-foot cage in the middle of the field. she walked to the front of the stone cage, where there was a gate held closed by a piece of paper with the kanji meaning 'seal' written on it.

"um, hello, is there anyone there?" hinata asked politely as two large fierce yet gentle blue eyes opened and look gently at hinata.

**"why, hello kitten, it's about time you came to see me, how may I help you?"** a voice asked as the eyes donned a cheerful look.

"um, I h-have come to request my f-f-first tail, please." hinata said politely with a very nervous stutter.

**"hmm, very well kitten, but, there are a couple things I feel the need to inform you about, first off, my name is keisei, my title is the nibi no neko, now, if you work hard to achieve your second tail, and you succeed in acquiring it before you reach the age of thirteen, then you will be able to obtain as many tails as kyuubi's heir, nine, however this will be no simple task, you must complete a great feat in order to obtain your second tail, essentialy, it is like how the uchiha must work to achieve the next level of their sharingan, however, depending on what you did to release your second tail, the effect of your second tail will be different. for example, if you use strength to defeat a powerful opponent, your physical strength will increase tenfold, that is all we have time to discuss, return to your friends and defeat the intruder sent to capture you, and remember, opponents who have seen your tail, must be killed, lest your secret be revealed to the world. farewell, kitten, we can speak as though you were merely thinking to yourself, so, take your fist fight, and make it a good one." **keisei said to hinata as the field faded.

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_hinata's room, 11:46, same day_

"almost, almost!" rikou said as his power was almost high enough to release his wings. "come on... come on! more chakra! if I can, ergh, push through, ugh, my, breaking point.. I... can.. release.. my... power!" rikou said strongly as two purple raven's wings made of chakra sprouted from his back on top of his shoulder blades, each about two feet long. "excellent! now I can channel youki instead of just chakra!" rikou said as naruto began to wake from the trance, as did hinata. however one thing was different about them, naruto had a red fox tail made from chakra sprouting from the tail bone, and hinata had a blue cat's tail made of chakra sprouting from the tail bone as well. "I see you got your tails, good, I managed to realease my first set of wings." rikou said flexing his wings.

"cool! now we can take down this no good kumo-nin!" naruto said confidently, his tail whipping about excitedly.

"yes, now we can win!" hinata said her tail swaying happily, but no as enthusiastically as naruto's.

"yes we can, but we need to capture him so as not to be in violation of the treaty you guys made, so, let your tails fade, they will still be there, and you will still feel them, they just won't be visible." rikou said as his wings folded around his shoulders and vanished from sight. naruto and hinata tried to focus on their tails becoming invisible, and their tails vanished. "good." rikou said turning his head to look at the door.

crash

"not today!" rikou said throwing one of his spinning cards like a razor blade at the kumo-nin that should have been too quick for them too see, but his eyes were even sharper than before, and he could've seen him before.

"argh!" the kumo-nin grunted as his legs were sliced off by the raven-hanyou's guillotine-esque card.

"well, well, well, looks like I could've beaten you before I gained my new power." rikou said dissapointed in his opponent. "come on, let's take him to your dad hinata, we need to show him kumo's violation of the treaty."

"god dammit!" the kumo-nin yelled, never having been defeated by children before.

"blah, blah, blah, you do know that four year olds aren't supposed to hear swear words, don't you?" the hyuuga heir teased.

"no way! beaten by a four year old with a couple cards, unbelievable!"


	3. frcrh ch 3

I'm so gonna enjoy messin' with konoha this time, no devils in this story, just demons messin' with dumbasses, NEXT CHAPTER!

The Fox, The Raven, and The Cat raise hell

chapter 3 - hell in the academy

_konoha hokage tower, 5 years later_

"hey there hokage! guess who's back!" rikou said dropping in through the ceiling without breaking it as naruto bounded in from the open window has hinata dropped in through the air vent.

"hmph, you three never cease to find new ways to break into my office, do you just go home and think of ways to mess with my head?" the third hokage asked.

"nah, you're just easy to confuse." hinata said smiling.

"heh, you're right, I should expect no less from the three number one jokers in all of konoha. speaking of, it's illegal to prank the hokage, the hokage faces are still rainbow colored, what brings you to my office?" the third asked as they each sat down.

"well, as much as we want to hit you with some paint-filled balloons, we have a request that we don't want you peeved for." naruto said with a fox-like grin.

"we'd like to start taking classes at the ninja academy." hinata said politely still smiling.

"well, how can I resist my favorite pranksters?" the third said with a smug grin.

"thanks old man!" rikou said smiling as he, naruto, and hinata began making their way back to their favorite rest area, the hyuuga estates.

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_hallway at the hyuuga estates_

"hey mr. hyuuga! hope you're not still sore about the little shampoo fiasco last year!" rikou said with a huge grin as hiashi hyuuga walked past them in the hallway.

"well, I can hardly stay mad at someone who saved my daughter from being kidnapped." hiashi said with a warm smile.

"hey, y'all are just lucky we were all hyped on orange soda that one time we slept over." rikou said with a grin.

"yeah, remember the look on his face when we let out some youki? priceless." naruto said making the other two grin showing they remembered as well.

"that's another thing I have to thank you for, konoha gained 200 million ryo just to keep you three away from them, and thanks to that jutsu of naruto's, you guys can go there anyway, very well done." hiashi said continuing down the hallway.

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_hinata's room_

"well, you're dad seems alot nicer than last year." naruto said sitting down on one of her chairs.

"yep, mostly because he's really warmed up to you guys, unfortunately, the council is still pissed that you destroyed the veil, I think they might even try to disown me." hinata said to her best friends.

"y'know, I think things might be better if they did, I mean, you could come hunting with us every month without being judged, I know that nibi's been buggin' the shit outta you to get out there and start huntin' down some meat." naruto said to hinata making her shrug.

"actually, I hope they do disown me, it would make life one hell of a lot more fun than it is now." hinata said looking around her room with a bored expression on her face.

"well, why don't I use some karasu gihou and make them disown you?" rikou said with a wicked grin on his face.

"now rikou, you remember what happened last time you did that." naruto said to his friend.

" oh come on it was only, oh, let's see, 5, 10-

"it was three hundred corpses rikou," hinata said, "you're just lucky they only had a couple feathers on them as proof, or you might of had to blank out a couple hundred minds."

"fine." rikou said crossing his arms over his chest. "you guys just love these no good villagers."

"no, we just don't want to see you in chains," naruto said, "you still need to get a girlfriend man, can't afford to go to prison first, otherwise anko's the only one who'll be interested."

"dude, that's not even funny," rikou said shuddering at anko's name, "I swear, if I didn't have my cards on me she would've raped me for sure."

"sorry rikou, but, really, that was just too funny." hinata said giggling.

"I don't even care man, that bitch scares me." rikou said curling up into a ball, his wings encompassing him to try and calm his nerves.

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_konoha ninja academy the next day_

"it's him!" yelled some random fangirl "it's sasuke!" at that half the other girls there shrieked happily.

"sasuke! sasuke! is it true that you can summon eitouingu?" ino asked.

"yep, here let me show you." sasuke said biting his thumb, drawing blood. "summoning jutsu!" sasuke yelled summoning the raven empress.

**"hello again sasuke, have you summoned me to fight, or talk?"** the eight-winged raven asked causing the fangirls to scream excitedly, **"ugh, did you summon me here to kill off your fangirls?"**

"hmph, well, what do you know," rikou said walking up behind the 7-foot tall raven, "it's my predecessor."

**"predecessor?"** eitouingu asked turning her head, her eyes widening in shock when she saw rikou, **"r-r-rikou?!"**

"the one and only, care to tell me how you know me? or better yet, how I became your successor as eitouingu no karasu." rikou said calmly.

**"I see, sandaime never told you, oh well, I guess I should be the one to train your karasu gihou, very well, you became my successor through blood, you are my half-human son, whom I was forced to abandon the night the kyuubi was sealed inside the yondaime's son," **eitouingu explained causing rikou to do something that naruto and hinata thought to be impossible, rikou shed a tear, a tear of blood, but still, a tear.

"y-you mean to tell me, that after 9 years of killing dumbass villagers for kicks, I'm finding that my mother is under the control of an arrogant uchiha bastard?!" rikou said, crying, full of rage.

"hey! the uchiha earned this power, our clan's council retrieved the summoning scroll from itachi after they killed him!" sasuke yelled.

"like hell!" rikou yelled, "we killed itachi! if we weren't who we were he would've destroyed us, but we are rikou karasu, naruto uzumaki, and hinata hyuuga! the true saviors of the uchiha! I _dropped_ the ravens summoning scroll while we were fighting itachi! your oh so special power came from a scroll stolen from a fucking six year old kid!" rikou yelled, fighting to keep himself from releasing his wings.

**"so! this is why you mortals had our contract! no wonder! how dare you! well, if you're going to steal one of the few things given to my son, I am going to take what makes you fools so special! kiss the sharingan goodbye!" **eitouingu yelled spreading her eight wing as sasuke eyes turned completely red and energy flew into her wings from his eyes, and beams of energy could be seen coming from everywhere in konoha being absorbed by eitouingu. however, eitouingu could feel one sharingan eye still had power, and she knew which one it was, and came up with an idea. **"from this day forth, the sharingan is the kekkei genkai of the hatake clan!"** eitouingu yelled, all of the red energy flying out to a certain jounin who will remain, kakashi, nameless.

"you-you took the sharingan!" sasuke said in astonishment.

**"rikou! come with me! we are going to discuss the arrangements that must be made to allow me to stay here and fulfill my duties as your mother, bring your friends with you, the heirs of my childhood friends' power need to know that our home is always open to them." **eitouingu said walking towards the nearby woods.

"heh, figures," naruto began, "we come here for educational purposes and we end up squashing the power of the clan we saved three years ago."

"just goes to show," hinata began, "school's evil."


	4. Chapter 4

hey, I'm really enjoyin' writin' this story, so, until I run out of ideas, I'm gonna be updating coninually. NEXT CHAPTER!

The Fox, The Raven, and The Cat raise hell

chapter 4 - hell in the council

_konoha woods, same day_

**"so, tell me, why did you never summon me to ask your questions sooner, that's why I left you with the contract."** eitounigu asked rather annoyed.

"I wasn't that interested in relying on anyone else to do my fighting for me," rikou began, "I was more intersted in practicing the powers I still needed to perfect."

"um, excuse me, eitouingu?" hinata asked not sure if that was her name or her title.

**"by now you three must know that there's a difference between the names humans know us by, and our actual names, right?"** eitouingu asked earning nods from the three of them. **"my name is Ayane, now, if you'll excuse me for a second we need to go for- I mean- convince, this villages council to let me stay."**

"can we mess with their heads? I really wanna see what they would to after a visit from mugen junjou." naruto said with a cruel-ish grin.

"yeah, can I show up as hinara shinta?" hinata asked with a devious grin.

"that reminds me, mom, I need to start being able to hunt my food down, since I've pranked the marketers so much they don't trust me, so, what's my name when I'm in raven form?" rikou asked.

**"hmm, I would say, rayko trecta. but, I'm really glad these are your friends, they're kind when the situation calls for it, serious when they need to get a point across, and as devious a pair of pranksters as their predeccessors were, back when we went around terrorizing our different clans."** ayane said before kind of shifting into a human form. she had long purple hair, the same shade as rikou's, only, she didn't have the black lines. she wore a purple sleeveless shirt, silver arm-guards, a purple handled zanbatou in it's sheath on her back, black samurai pants, and her eyes were as silver and sharp as rikou's.

"hm, so I'm not the only one with silver eyes." rikou said happily.

"nope." ayane said, "that's hereditary, of course, it is going to become a kekkei genkai if you're children are mortal-spawn, as you were."

"trust me, the odds of that happening are very strong in favor of mortal-spawn." rikou said as they began walking towards the hokage tower.

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_hokage tower, 5 minutes later_

knock, knock, knock

"come in" the third said to whoever was at the door.

"OLD MAN!" rikou naruto and hinata all shouted happily as they popped into the room leaving ayane there with her eyebrow cocked.

"well, is that a normal greeting to one of your authority figures?" she asked taking a seat.

"yes it is miss," sandaime said curiously not knowing who she was, "might I ask what you're doing here? or who you are?"

"ah yes, forgive me, I'm here to request permission to remain here in konoha," she said with a smile, "oh, here's the fun part kids, my name is ayane, the eitounigu no karasu." when she said this the sandaime practically choked on his pipe. "now, why did you not tell my son who I was?"

"damnit! I knew I was forgetting something important!" the sandaime yelled hitting his head on the desk.

"whatever," rikou said, "so, can mom stay or am I leaving with her?"

"hmm, if you two leave, the villagers will have field day, with one of the three number one pranksters gone, no way in hell I'm letting you two leave here!" the sandaime decided. "those villagers have been mistreating these three, and I'll be damned if these kids don't get to keep punishing their sorry asses!"

"thanks old man!" rikou said giving the sandaime a hug, sticking something to his back. when he let go, the sandaime reached behind him and swiped the envelope. he opened it andconfetti popped out with a card saying thank you springing into his face.

"waaah!" the hokage cried falling backwards in his chair.

"I knew it! I knew I could find a way to prank you without getting in trouble!" rikou said pointing his finger as naruto, hinata, and ayane laughed. the sandaime stood back up with a smile on his face.

"okay, you got me, but the council is going to go into canniptions or something." the sandaime said already trying to soothe the headache he was going to get from the council.

"could you take a picture? they're like, the only people in the village we don't have dirt on." naruto said, the other two nodding in agreement.

"I'll see what I can do." the sandaime said with a warm grin.

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_konoha residential district, 10 minutes later_

"so, mom, if you want I could pay for the house until you get accepted for a job, I got paid one hell of alot of money just to stay away from this one place." rikou said as he, naruto, hinata, and ayane all walked away from the hokage tower to the residential district.

"hey," hinata said getting everyones attention, "why don't you guys stay at that house over their?" hinata asked pointing to a sign in front of a house. the sign said it had three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a sparring gym, and a kitchen.

"hmm, only 75,000 ryo? deal, where's the owner?" rikou asked as some guy walked up from behind the house.

"hello, are you interested in buying this house?" he asked, paying no heed to the fact he was scared shitless.

"yeah, how long would it be after the payment before we could move in?" ayane asked.

"one day."

"I'll pay 125,000 ryo if we can move in today." rikou said quickly.

"deal!" the man said handing ayane the keys to the house. "y'know, for the rumors going around about you guys, you're real nice, if you need any weapons, contact me, the first three are free of charge, and the rest are 25 off!" he said with a warm smile giving them the name of the weapons shop and walking away.

"well, that was lucky." ayane said watching him walk away, "come on, let's give this a special touch to see if we can't make this place a bit more comfortable.

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_inside rikou & ayane's new house, 30 seconds later_

"hmm, not bad, I don't think we're gonna have to do anything with this place." ayane said noting the walls were painted a deep purple.

"I have an idea." rikou said dashing upstairs to the bedrooms, he had already decided his mother would get the master bedroom, so he went to the two other bedrooms. they were obviously made for teens, which was good, because each room had two beds. rikou took out a sealing scroll and sealed the two beds inside and went to the other room, and then released them. he arranged themso they were in a box shape, and in the middle he had put some cushions, so they could just sorta hang around and talk with each other, without falling asleep. he went back to the other rom and painted the wall on the left a deep purple, the wall in the middle a reddish orange, and the one on the right a deep blue. "all done, whew, that was easier than I thought it'd be."

"rikou!" hinata shouted up the stairs, "you're mom wants to go out to eat tonight! come on!"

"I'm coming!" rikou yelled dashing down the stairs.


	5. Chapter 5

I got nothin' to say, NEXT CHAPTER!

The Fox, The Raven, and The Cat raise hell

chapter 5 - the ninja academy, year one

_konoha ninja academy, second day of class_

on the second day of school at the konoha ninja academy, naruto, hinata, and rikou, were heading off to the academy to start _their _first day of school.

"I can't believe we forgot we had school yesterday." naruto said.

"dude, a lot of stuf happened yesterday, what are you gonna do? pretend it didn't happen? the whole academy knows I'm half-demon, they already know how strong we are, and, we're just a little bit on the intimidating side considering most of the village has been subject to our pranks." rikou said to his friend as they aproached the academy.

"true, but still, we can at least hope things won't be insane around here," hinata said cheerfully, "or we can hope things will be insane around here."

"yeah, seriously, this is gonna be fun." rikou said as a kid in a gray jacket walked up to them with a small dog on his head.

"hey there!" the boy said, his cheeks had a red, fang-like marking on each cheek as he grinned. "I'm kiba! and this is akamaru! I'm from the inuzuka clan, what're your names?" kiba asked, gesturing to the small dog when he said akamaru.

"I'm naruto uzumaki! one of konoha's three number one pranksters!" naruto said with a huge grin on his face.

"I'm rikou karasu! another one of konoha's three number one pranksters!" rikou said with a smirk.

"I'm hinata hyuuga, also one of konoha's three number one prankster!" hinata said with a grin.

"cool! hey, most of the kids here don't like me, and insult me all the time, do you guys wanna be friends?" kiba asked a hopeful look in his eye.

"sure! we could always use more friends!" naruto said to kiba as his face lit up and he grinned again.

"cool! thanks guys! come on, I don't want to see what would happen if we're late for class!" kiba said jogging inside with his new friends following.

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_konoha ninja academy room 103, 3 minutes later_

ring, ring, ring

"okay, everyone, stop talking and get in your seats!" a man in a chuunin vest with a scarred nose yelled, quieting the class. "okay, you were excused yesterday do to the uchiha fiasco, but today, you're going to learn something, and I'm going to be the one to teach it to you! my name is Iruka Umino, and I'm going to be you're sensei until you graduate from this academy!" iruka said. "now then if any of you know any jutsu, come to the front of the class now!" iruka said causing naruto, hinata, rikou, kiba, some lazy kid, some blonde sasuke-fangirl, sasuke, and some red-headed girl with an uninterested look on her face. "you, purple-hair, hwo are you, and what jutsu do you know?"

"alright since you didn't know my name, I'll let the purple hair thing go, but if you ever insult me that way again, you're gonna have my mother to answer to, my name is rikou karasu, and I know several forms of karasu gihou, as well as katachi koutai no jutsu my friend developed." rikou said causing iruka to look at him curiously.

"can you give us an example of this, 'karasu gihou', as you called it?" iruka asked thinking that there was no such technique in existence.

"sure, no problem, KARASU GIHOU! SHADOW RAVEN GUN!" rikou called out going through his arcaic-divine handseals ending on one that meant shadow as he pulled his right arm back with his right hand open and thrust it forward while pulling back his left in the same fashion. his right hand had released a raven made of shadow that made a whole in the wall, and then he thrust his left hand forward pulling his right hand back, his left hand releasing an identical raven, and repeated the process ten times rapidly. "sorry about the wall, maybe we should go outside to demonstrate the rest of the jutsus, otherwise, this building's comin' down." rikou suggested walking through the hole in the wall, naruto, hinata, and kiba following.

"okay, class we're going outside to see the rest of the jutsu demonstrations!" iruka yelled going through the hole in the wall, the rest of the students following. once they were all outside iruka turned his attention to naruto. "okay, you're turn."

"I'm naruto uzumaki, my specialties are, kitsunepou, and katachi koutai no jutsu, my own creation." naruto said with a small grin.

"can you give us an example of kitsunepou?" iruka asked, not liking the idea of the kyuubi's container being able to use fox-type jutsus.

"of course! KITSUNEPOU! BURNING FOX ATTACK!" naruto yelled going through demonic seals ending on one that meant burn, getting into a position where he held his hands out like claws, then he quickly swiped his right hand light a claw, and where his nails flew through the air fire appeared, and out of the inferno came a three-foot tall fox made of fire that ran swiftly at a group of trees, incinerating them on conatact. "took me two months to perfect that one, but I finally got it perfect!" naruto said triumphantly.

"wow, alright, um, your turn." iruka said gesturing towards hinata.

"okay, I'm hinata hyuuga, I specialize in neko gigei, and can perform katachi koutai no jutsu." hinata said politely.

"sigh can you give an example of neko gigei?" iruka said catching the pattern.

"yes, NEKO GIGEI! ELECTRIC CAT CLAW!" hinata shouted going through a set of demonic handseals ending on one meaning shock. hinata stood sideways, her left side facing forward, and then she quickly swiped her right hand down like naruto had, only instead of burning, the air gave off powerful electrical discharges, and out of it came a three-foot tall cat made of electricity that ran quickly at the trees next to where naruto had burnt through half the forest. and the trees caught fire and burnt to the ground.

"wow, that's pretty impressive, all right, you, name, jutsu." iruka said pointing to kiba.

"my name is kiba inuzuka! my specialty jutsu is currently beast mimicry!" kiba said with a toothy grin revealing sharp canine teeth.

"demonstrate please." iruka said.

"no problem! BEAST MIMICRY! MAN-BEAST CLONE!" kiba shouted as akamaru jumped on his back and akamaru transformed into a second kiba, both looking feral and ferocious.

"very good kiba, okay, you, name, jutsu now." iruka said pointing to sasuke.

"got it! KATON! GOUKYAKKU NO JUTSU!" sasuke said breathing in deeply his chest puffing out and blasting out a huge fireball. "I'm sasuke uchiha, and I'm going to prove that the name of uchiha means more than a clan who lost their kekkei genkai!"

"good luck with that thief!" rikou said cruelly with venom soaking his words.

"enough, save it for sparring, okay, your turn." iruka said turning to the lazy boy.

"troublesome, I'm shikamaru nara, I'm proficient in the use of my family's shadow manipulation jutsus." shikamaru said lazily as ever.

"example please." iruka said.

"KAGE MANE NO JUTSU!" shikamaru said forming an odd handseal. his shadow connected with shikamaru's, and shikamaru walked forward, making iruka walk forward as well. shikamaru promptly punched iruka in the gut, and being that shikamaru was a fair deal shorter, when iruka was forced to punch as well, he missed. "that's for not letting me take a nap."

"cough, cough whatever, alright, you're the last one who knows any jutsu, what's your name?" iruka asked the red-head as shikamaru released him. she wore a mask over her mouth and nose, and her head band covered her left eye, her hair was long, and reached her mid-back in a braid, she wore a white T-shirt, long black pants, instead of ninja sandals she wore tennis shoes, and she had a rather lonely look in her visible eye.

"Rika Nanashi." she said unemotionally.

"what jutsus do you know?"

"fear genjutsu." she said unemotionally as before.

"care to give an exam-

"no, I don't." she said firmly.

"little harsh don't you think?" rikou said in a mocking tone.

"I could care less." she said insultingly.

"no duh, point is, _why_ don't you care, these eyes don't miss a beat, why are you so lonely?" rikou asked actually concerned for once, causing naruto and hinata to look at him strangely, seriousness was rare, but concern just wasn't there to begin with, he was a joker by blood, at heart, and through action, he just never cares.

"why does it concern you?" she asked suspiciously.

"does the title, eitouingu no karasu ring any bells?" rikou said with a smirk as her visible eye widened in surprise, "I knew it, nanashi, no name, the title donned by those disowned from a demon clan for being half human, care to tell me which clan you come from?" rikou asked in such a way that it just got under your skin.

"grrrrrrrr, what's it to you?!" she yelled at rikou angrily.

"the fact that I'm not one to abandon a fellow bird, however, I'm not one to ask twice for something either, who banished you?!" rikou demanded.

"THE PHOENIXES! OKAY?! I'M A DISOWNED PHOENIX HANYOU OKAY?!" she yelled with her eye starting to tear blood.

"god dammit! y'know, that's the one thing I can't stand! for the life of me I can't sit there and watch a girl cry." rikou said walking over to her. "naruto, hinata, come on, we're leaving! we have to talk to mom!" rikou shouted taking rika's hand in his, "come on, mom can help, one way or another."

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_rikou & ayane's house, 10 minutes later_

door opening

"rikou? what the hell are you doing here? school isn't over yet, and you promised not to kill your teachers." ayane said as rikou, naruto, hinata, and rika walked in.

"I also promised to help any hanyous in distress, I just so happened to find one." rikou said bringing rika over to the couch having her sit down as he went to make some tea to calm her down.

"um, rikou, who is this?" rika asked not feeling very safe having him out of the room.

"that's my mom, don't worry, she wouldn't hurt anyone without a reason." rikou said putting the kettle on and walking back into the room.

"care to tell me which clan she was disowned from?" ayane asked politely.

"phoenix." rikou said calmly.

"hmm, I see, so, they actually disowned their heir huh? how foolish. don't worry, our home is always open to you." ayane said warmly, calming rika down a great deal.

"th-th-thank you." rika said gratefully as she began tearing more blood.

"dammit stop crying I already told you I can't stand it!" rikou yelled, making rika look at him with a look he couldn't place, which worried him. "uh, what's that look?" rikou asked nervously.

he soon found out why that look worried him. in two seconds he was brought to the ground in a hug, being drenched in rika's bloody tears, as she cried happily, thanking him repeatedly.


	6. Chapter 6

hello, the last chapter was officially this story's longest, hooray, also, I'm just sorta gonna skip over the other three years at the academy and focus on the things happening a couple weeks before the graduation test, right now, everyone but hinata is thirteen, and she turns thirteen the day of the graduation test, just had to get that little confusion out of the way, NEXT CHAPTER!

The Fox, The Raven, and The Cat raise hell

chapter 6 - hell in the graduation test

_konoha ninja academy room 403, three weeks until the graduation test._

iruka umino was giving a normal jutsu test in his classroom of the year-four academy students, the four best-ranked students being, naruto, rikou, hinata, and rika all tied for first overall, naruto and rikou tied for first in ninjutsu, hinata first in taijutsu, rika first in genjutsu, and all tied for first in special skills. rika had released her first set of wings, naruto felt close to achieving his second tail, rikou had become strong enough to get one more wing and was working on gaining his fourth, hinata had been working incredibly hard on releasing her second tail, not wanting to be limited to less than a third of the strength her friends could achieve, and her deadline was fast approaching, if she could not release her second tail by the day of the graduation exam, which happened to be her birthday, then she would be limited to a mere two tails. there was also another problem she had, while she was voted most outgoing in the academy, she couldn't find the courage to say three simple words, 'I love Naruto' were those three words, and she knew that if she couldn't say those words within three weeks time, she woudl never even come close to being able to release her second tail.

/hey! akamaru!/ hinata said in a quiet growl, getting akamaru's attention. /kiba does know I don't like him right?/ she asked the puppy expectently.

/er, uh, oh look! a fly!/ akamaru barked trying to change the subject.

/he doesn't?! why the hell didn't you tell him?!/ she asked in an aggravated growl.

/I did, he doesn't believe me, he'll only believe you, he said so./ akamaru barked shamefully.

/sigh it's okay, it's not your fault./ she replied turning her attention back to her best friends, rikou, naruto, and rika.

"hey! hinata!you wanna see if we can stay over at rikou's tonight? he says he found some scrolls on our predeccessors!" naruto asked, blissfully unaware of the war going on in hinata's head.

**hurry! tell him how you feel! as soon as you leave this village on a mssion the other demon heiress's are going to be all over him, you have to get him before you leave for a mission!**

'I'm trying! it's just that I can't get the courage to tell him, what if he doesn't like me back? it'll ruin our friendship!' she thought, hoping keisei could think of a solution.

**wait a mintue! there's a way you could find out how he feels, you need to use a new neko gigei that I'm going to teach you right now! it's called, 'mental link observation', you can use it to listen in on his and kurui's conversations, the seals are truth, lies, heaven, hell, and spy, now, ask him how he feels about you, and then use the technique! hurry!**

"um, naruto, what do you think of me? like, how do you feel about me?' hinata asked, concealing the fact she was doing the five seals she was told to do. 'NEKO GIGEI! MENTAL LINK OBSERVATION!' hinata thought ending the seals on spy.

'er, ok, just keep calm, she didn't ask specifically, how can I answer, without lying, and without telling her too much...'

"you know how I feel, you're one of my best friends!" he said with a slightly nervous grin.

"is that all?" she asked inquisitively.

'fuck! okay, um, think! think! rgh! kurui! what the hell should I do?!'

**tell her the truth, as soon as you kits are out of the village on mission, and the demon heirs catch her scent on the wind, totally unmarked by anything, they're going to come right out in the open and try to mark her themselves. trust me, this question came from nowhere, the way she asked, she won't hold it against you if she doesn't feel the same, and if you say you don't feel that way and she does, you'll break her heart, the safest response is the truth.**

'fine, I'll tell her, oh please let me finish this sentence!'

"er, um, eh yeah, um, well, no, that's not all..." he said nervously.

"well, what more do you think of me then?" she asked scooting a little closer to naruto, making him blush.

'damn, this isn't easy.'

"well, er, um, ah, a, lot, more..." he said blushing strongly.

"do you love me or something?" she asked leaning on his shoulder.

'why must she do this now?!'

"well, I er..." naruto mumbled nervously.

"'cuz, I love you, do you feel the same about me?" she said not showing the difficulty behind saying that.

'holy shit I can't believe I managed to say that! wait, why do I feel like I have a third arm or something?' hinata thought to keisei.

**congrats, by telling him, you accomplished something hard enough to release your second tail.**

'yay! now I can keep up with my friends!'

"well, I, er ye-ye-" naruto said seemingly choking on whatever he was about to say, as if his heart wouldn't let him say it.

"I was right, rikou, you owe me 1,000 ryo." rika said flatly as rikou grumbled and handed her the money.

"you bet on what I would say?" naruto said his left eybrow twitching in anger.

"no, we bet on how long it would take for hinata to get you to spill, I bet 1,000 ryo that you would tell, and she would be to shy to start the conversation. ergo, I lost." rikou said grumpily.

"everyone can I have your attention please!" iruka yelled over the conversations going on. "in light of recent events we will not be waiting three weeks to give the gradutation exam! the test will be held right now! get together with a group of your friends and come up here with them and you will take the graduation exam!" iruka yelled, effectively creating a panic.

"naruto, hinata, rika, kiba, that's everyone, alright let's go." rikou said calmly as they got up and walked to iruka while the others continued to panic, except for sasuke and shino. "alright then iruka-sensei, give us the test, and don't even think about saying we passed just cause we were ready for your little surprise test." rikou said expecting a good challenge.

"no, not quite that boring, I'm sure you're glad to know. this is a tes of teamwork, you must defeat me without me touching you." iruka said walking outside. at this point all the other students had grouped together with her friends, and were following iruka and the pranksters out the door. when they were outside iruka took a ready stance and spoke once more. "now, don't worry about injuring me, I can take it after all i am a- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" iruka said screaming as a card passed through his left leg, effectively, removing it.

"fighting rule number one, NEVER, monologue." rikou said whiping his card and returning it to his deck.

"WHATEVER JUST FIX MY LEG!" he yelled in pain.

"fine, KARASU GIHOU! LIMB REGENERATION!" rikou shouted making a single handseal, meaning, pity.

"ah, ah, ah, oh man, that hurt, fine rikou, you and your friends pass, but you'd better hope that they're strong enough to fend for themselves out in the ninja world." iruka said, as the other teams took their turns, and half passed.

"okay, back in the classroom!" iruka said to the students as he walked back, the five pranksters already inside. once everyone was back inside he called them to attention. "be here in one hour if you passed to get your team assignments, the rest of you, you can take the normal graduation test in a couple weeks, later!" iruka said with a smile as he left.

"great, no matter how you slice, two of us are seperated from the rest! dammit!" kiba cursed, severely pissed at the prospect of being seperated from his friends, and the people who made him one of konoha's number one pranksters.

"yeah, sucks, oh well, we'll find a way around it like always." rikou said confidently.

"let's just focus on satisfying naruto's massive appetite for ramen in an hours time." rika said as naruto involuntarily began walking towards ichiraku's ramen stand.

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_konoha ninja academy, one hour later_

"alright! we got here just in time!" naruto said with a huge grin on his face.

"barely, next time, bring the ramen with you and pay old man teauchi for the bowl!" hinata said scoldingly, before hugging him randomly.

"heh, random hugs? that's gonna be real annoying if you're trying to keep people from knowing you're dating." rikou said jokingly.

hug

"what the crap?!" rikou yelled as rika hugged him, catching him completely off-guard.

"heh, looks like your eyes can't catch me huh?" she teased.

"stupid phoenix powers." rikou grumbled as he sat on the desk in front of naruto and hinata, "dude, I swear, you're real lucky I'm still rich from that kumo thing 9 years ago." rikou said to naruto.

"whatever, if it tastes like ramen, it's going down my throat!" naruto said in a joking kind of tone.

"attention please!" iruka yelled. "now, normally, the teams would consist of three man squads, but seeing as there's a group that works very well together, there will be one five-man squad."iruka announced.

"team one"

'don't care'

"team two"

'why do we have to hear this again?'

"team three"

'still don't care'

"team four"

'I can't believe hinata actually likes me!'

"team five"

'maybe if I cut his leg off again he'd tell me what team I was on already'

"team six"

'come on! am I with naruto or not?!"

"team seven: naruto uzumaki, rikou karasu, kiba inuzuka,"

'DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT!!!'

"hinata hyuuga, and rika nanashi. congrats, you're the five man team."

'huh?'

"sweet!" naruto said as rikou grinned.

"YES!" hinata yelled.

"cool!" kiba said loudly.

"team eight: sakura haruno, sasuke uchiha, and shino aburame."

"yay!" sakura said.

"whatever." sasuke said.

"..." shino said nothing.

"team nine of last year is still on active duty, team ten: shikamaru nara, chouji akamichi, ino yamanaka. there, that's everyone, stay here and wait for your senseis to come get you." iruka said leaving the academy.

_three hours later_

"where the fuck is this asshole?!" rikou yelled, rika hugging him trying to calm him down.

"cool your jets, if you kill our sensei we'll never get a new one." rika said releasing her wings trying to hold him down.

step,step,step,step, door-knob turning

rip, clunk, clunk, slice

"hmm, looks like you guys don't trust your new sensei do you?" came a feminine voice.

"that voice, oh dear god no, please don't tell me..." rikou trailed off recognising the voice.

"well," the voice said as the door that was ripped off it's hinges to protect her threw the door down revealing the last person rikou wanted to see. "I'm your new sensei! Anko Mitarashi at your service!"

"NO!!! DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIT!!! WHY?!?!?!?!?!?!" rikou yelled at the top of his lungs.

"hey! you're that kid from a couple years ago!" anko said with a wicked grin.

"STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME YOU FUCKING RAPIST!!!" rikou yelled releasing his wings and using them to hover in mid-air.

"heh heh heh, it wasn't that scary was it?" she asked innocently.

"I WAS THREE YEARS OLD! YOU'RE LUCKY I DON'T THROW YOU OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH FOR THAT!!!" rikou yelled.

"sorry, geez, I swear, I was just trying to be nice." she said sadly.

"well," hinata began, "next time why don't you try and keep your shirt on, you jump-started his hormones and now he runs like hell as soon as someone mentions your name."

"oh, um, yeah, could've done that a bit better." anko said a bit more cheery. "well, what's done is done! come on! let's go get more acquainted with one another!" anko said much happier than when she walked in.


	7. Chapter 7

i have an idea, and i won't stop writing until I have finished writing through my plan. basically, it will work through this, I'll work through differing parts of the series, twisting them as much as possible, and continuing through these different pieces of the story. I'll come up with a plan for each part of the storyline, and then I'll work through making it interesting, just wanted to tell ya, NEXT CHAPTER

The Fox, The Raven, and The Cat raise hell

chapter 7 - hell in wave country

_konoha mission center, three months after graduating_

"come on old man, give us a challenge," naruto yelled, "finding the fire daimyo's cat? kiba gets scratched up a bloody storm until rikou gets tired of watching and pins it to a tree with one of his card! weeding? kiba uses fang-over-fang and obliterates the weeds from the root up! picking up trash? my wind jutsus throw them into the junkyard while my kitsunepou annihilates everything else! we've completed two hundred D-ranks in the time it takes to do a low B-rank! give us a C or something harder than this shit! I want my fucking second tail already!" naruto yelled royally pissed at the fact he's stuck doing D-ranks when they've physically, mentally, even maturely proven they're ready for more.

"I was expecting this, but isn't it just fair that an old monkey gets to have a few kicks too?" the sandaime asked not looking for an answer, "all you had to do was ask." the third said making naruto's jaw drop.

"good one old man!" rikou said loudly as he broke out laughing while anko started laughing as well.

"now, as for the mission you're getting, you can have a B-rank escort mission, your job is to protect tazuna the bridge-builder from anything you come across. however, seeing as you are just genin, even if you're sensei is anko, you're going to have a second team assisting you. kakashi, front and center!" sandaime said firmly as a jounin wearing a mask appeared, his hair silver, wearing typical jounin attire.

"ha! a hatake! how rich!" rikou said from behind him laughing.

"hmph, disrespectful genin, have you no idea what the hatake now possess?" he asked in an annoyed tone.

"do I have an idea? I'm the reason your clan is able to withstand the sharingan, respect me like you would respect your brother, cause I can easily take you down." rikou said, the amazing thing being, his team thought he was being modest.

"you think you could over-power me?" he asked his anger building.

"I couldn't _over-_power you, I could match your power, and take openings in your defences you had no idea were even there." rikou said chillingly making anko smirk, which did not go unnoticed by kakashi.

"hmmm, it looks like this kid has anko's respect, and not that half-assed 'leave me the fuck alone' kind of respect, no, this kid's ruthless." kakashi said a smile under his mask.

"getting back on track, kakashi, you're here to accompany them on their mission to wave country, bring in the client!" sandaime said to the chuunin by the door. when the client entered a moderate height drunken man walked in, a disappointed look on his face.

"these are the ninja you sent to protect me? why, they're just a bunch of brats!" he said insultingly as anko's kunai, two of her shuriken, and one of her snakes whizzed past the old man. "hey! why did you attack me you crazy whore?!"

"I didn't, my students did, if you would have payed attention, you would have seen that I deflected a card, two kunai, and a very, _very_, peeved puppy." anko said as naruto and hinata picked up their kunai, akamaru walked back to kiba, and rikou mourned over the loss of his favorite 'ack of hearts'. "around us, respect is something required for survival, and that just seems like something you don't get. the only one on my team who hasn't killed is the guy with the jacket and the dog." anko said very threateningly.

"when do we leave?" tazuna asked disrespectfully causing him to get a glare from anko, "ma'am"

"10:00 tomorrow, and kakashi, if you're late, I'm sending rika and rikou after you, and their idea of a date is ripping someone apart and seeing how far they can chuck the remains." anko said completely serious making kakashi's eyes widen in fear.

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_konoha northern gate, 9:59 A.M., next morning_

"I swear kakashi if you're-

"yo." the silver-haired jounin said as he appeared with his team of sasuke, shino, and sakura.

"you're kidding," sasuke said with a frown, "our help is bird-boy, dog-breath, whisker-girl, dumb-ass, and miss nobody?"

"watch who you're insulting thief!" rikou yelled, "or need I give you a crash course on how we killed itachi?"

"please, three against one? even with your skills it can be done."

"need I remind you we were six-years old?" rikou said tauntingly.

"can it!" the uchiha said beaten. "so, why did we have to be here so early?"

"that was my idea," rikou said, "we're gonna test your patience, cause you're gonna come with us while we get some weapons."

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_weapons shop, half-a-minute later._

"hey there old man, remember me? I'm the one that gave you a tip on the house we bought four years ago." rikou said to the man behind the desk, who looked up with a warm smile as he saw the smirking boy.

"yeah, I remember you, so what'll it be?" the man asked standing up.

"two zanbatou, no more than three inches wide, two pairs of metal claws, two katana, and a bottle of venom remover please." rikou said taking out roughly 5,000 ryo.

"why the extra pair of claws? inuzuka's the only one who'd use them and I doubt you wanna give em to me." sasuke said mockingly.

"they're not for you, they're for akamaru, he's a part of this team too, and when he's using the man-beast clone technique the claws'll come in handy, you gotta think outside the box, look underneath the underneath, otherwise, how can you expect to be any more than a genin?" rikou asked insultingly.

"like that'll ever help in battle." sasuke said.

"y'know, that's what itachi thought while we were fighting him, and look where that got him, killed by a bunch of 6-year olds." rikou answered coldly, honestly hating the uchiha, as the weapons returned.

"I assumed the claws were for the inuzuka boy and his partner, so I went with a size 7." the old man said handing kiba both pairs of claws.

"thanks old man, I just hope we have time to break in the new weapons before we run into some enemies." rikou said with a smile.

"I hope you do, that'll be 2,500 ryo."

"tch, too bad, I really wanted to see what you could do with that, but since there's no way you have the money-

"how's about I give you 5,000 instead, for your kindness." rikou said emphasizing the word kindness, making sasuke's jaw drop.

"what're you rich? not even my father carries that much pocket change!" sasuke yelled.

"y'know, if you keep acting like the uchiha are the best, I'm gonna have to finish what itachi tried to start." rikou said putting the zanbatou on his back, and handing the other to naruto who did the same.

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_dirt road leading to wave dinghy port, twenty minutes later_

they were walking down to a port that would take them to wave country, they walked past a puddle which no one but sasuke and sakura missed, rikou 'dropped' a card, one of hinata's earrings fell off, naruto was chewing his nails letting the clippings fall, kiba took out a chicken leg and ate it, leaving the bone, rika practiced one of her fenikkusu gihou, (phoenix techinque) leaving the ashes of a tree, anko left one of her snakes shed skin, and kakashi dropped a page from his icha icha book. after they were a few more feet away from the puddle two ninja popped out and dashed at them, each bearing a poisoned claw, they took rika out first, seeing her power, and proceeded to destroy the others, the others looking on in mock surprise, sasuke smirking, believing this proof of the fact they were just talking big, and attacked the two ninja, while sakura looked at the remains in horror when she noticed something about kiba's remains, it was nothing but a chicken bone, rikou's was a card, rika was ash, naruto was a bunch of nail clippings, hinata was a shattered earring, anko was a torn snake skin, and kakashi was a piece of paper with very colorful words typed on it. she looked back to where she remembered them dropping these items, and sure enough, they were standing there laughing at sasuke's belief that they were really caught off guard, even anko and kakashi laughing. but sasuke took a hit, and when they attacked shino he just dodged them, obviously not interested in whatever they thought they could do to him. after he walked off, and they turned to attack sasuke, and he looked up, rikou appeared right behind them, waved at sasuke, and knocked them out in one move.

"sheesh, makin' a big scene, trying to make this a huge fight, when all it took was a well placed hit, I was wrong, you're not stupid, you're pathetic, just go on home and play ninja with your fool of a fathre, we don't need you to kill off a few mere chuunin." rikou said as the others walked up to him. "either get over yourself and go after power the right way, or get out of our way." rikou said walking off.

"wait!" sasuke said causing rikou to stop and bend his back completely backwards, staring at sasuke upside down. sasuke bowed his head respectfully, "I concede, please, teach me the proper way to gain power."

"deal, but on one condition." rikou said, his flexibilty rivaling anko's.

"name it."

"treat me like a friend, not your master, I hate people treating me like something I'm not." he said standing back up as if it was natural to bend like that.

/what do you know, he befriended the thief, who knew it was possible?/ kiba growled to the others.

/hey, I'm surprised too, whenever we were out on dates, half the time he would ask me about new ways to make sasuke feel like mud./ rika chirped.

/interesting, I didn't know animal type fighters spoke our language./ came a buzzing sound that was so stoic it could only mean one thing.

/shino?!/ anko hissed.

/hmm, didn't know snakes spoke our tongue either. you learn new things each day I guess./ shino buzzed turning his attention completely to their secret conversation. /I know why anko can speak our language, but for you to speak it, you must be either an inuzuka, a hanyou, or a demon heir, correct?/

/impressive./ came a high pitched chirping sound that made sakura, sasuke, and kakashi cover their ears/but the question is, are you smart, or like the villagers?/ it was rikou.

/that depends, am I smart if I see that demons can be kind, or like the villagers?/ shino buzzed making everyone who understood him smile, and though you couldn't see it, shino smirked seeing that he had made some fucking powerful new friends. "I believe it would be wise if we spoke in human tongue unless we must keep the information secret." shino said, causing sasuke, sakura, and kakashi to question what he meant.

"shino, what are you talking about?" sakura asked.

"ancient chinese secret." shino said making everyone but sakura laugh.

"who knew, he has a sense of humor." rikou said in a sort of respectful way.


	8. Chapter 8

this story is fun! NEXT CHAPTER!

The Fox, The Raven, and The Cat raise hell

chapter 8 - hell in the mist

_lake surrounding wave country, 30 minutes after shino's first joke_

they were on the lake, about ten minutes away from wave country, naruto, hinata, rikou, and rika were all in their animal forms, rika and rikou flying around scouting the area ahead for archers, and killing the ones they found. naruto and hinata had transformed just so they could save some space and have an excuse to cuddle. about ten minutes later, they met up with rika and rikou on land as naruto and hinata shifted back to their human forms. they started to walk and they made good time as they were only two miles from tazuna's home at this point. however, naruto and hinata heard something that they didn't like, and rikou and rika saw something that confirmed everyone's worries.

/DUCK!/ rikou screeched as he brought tazuna, sasuke, and sakura to the ground, while everyone else followed suit and dropped to the ground, as an odd zanbatou zoomed passed the space where their heads had just been.

a man with no shirt, wearing huge pants with bandages over his mouth was standing on the blade's handle, as it was now lodged in a tree, "interesting, you weren't taken by surprise, excellent, come, let us battle." he said grasping the handle of his blade and backflipping dislodging the blade from the tree and swiping the sword at tazuna, only to have it blocked by rikou's zanbatou.

"sorry, but this old fart's my client, and if he dies, I don't get paid." rikou said in a bored tone, before throwing the bandaged man and his zanbatou away with his own zanbatou.

"ah, wonderful, a young spirit ready to do battle, I can feel it in your words, this is more than your pay, you want a fight as well, well, I'll gladly be the one to oblige! I am zabuza momochi, the demon of the mist!" zabuza said resting his blade on his shoulder.

"excellent, I've always wanted to fight one of the seven swordsman of the mist. I am rikou karasu, and I'd like to make a deal with you, if you kill me, you may take all 100,000 ryo that I have on my person at this moment, but if I defeat you, you and your apprentice hidden in the trees must return to konoha with us, after being payed 50,000 ryo." rikou said also resting his blade on his shoulder.

"deal, no matter what happens, I get more money than I would've for killing the old man, of course, you're going to have to pay the men who are out to kill me." zabuza said getting ready to fight.

"well, I don't see why not, I mean after all, I have much more money back at konoha." rikou said as he and zabuza charged one another. their swords collided, again and again, and then they jumped apart, zabuza forming a seal where he put one arm straight above his head with his middle and index finger extended, while the other arm was infront of him with the same fingers extended the same way, except for the fact that it was in front of him like a normal handseal.

"hidden mist technique!" zabuza said as the mist surrounding them became much thicker. "prepare for death, no one has ever survived this technique, as I use this technique to kill silently, you'll be dead before you know what happened."

"I don't see what good outer silence does against someone hwo can hear your heart pumping loud and clear." rikou said charging zabuza silently, as he put his zanbatou to zabuza's neck, he flared his chakra, causing the mist to vanish. "guess what, you're comin' with us to konoha." rikou said causing zabuza to smile under his mask and chuckled.

"indeed, haku, come, the sooner they finish their mission the sooner we can return to konoha and stop running from the hunter nins." zabuza called out placing his zanbatou in it's place on his back.

"yes, zabuza." came a feminine voice from behind rikou.

"heh, who knew, the kid's as fast as us. so you're haku, I think you're a girl by the way you speak, but I can't tell for sure, care to clear that up for me?" rikou said placing his zanbatou on his back as well.

"I am a girl, yes." she said going to zabuza's side.

"I was right, cool, alright, well, let's head off to tazuna's house, I'm hoping we can get some dinner." rikou said as the large group began to walk towards tazuna's home.

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_tazuna's house, ten minutes after the fight_

"I'm home! and I brought a hefty group home with me!" tazuna announced as they filed into his living room, rikou sitting on the coffee table, zabuza leaning on the wall, haku sitting politely, eyeing kiba every few minutes, naruto sitting on the couch with hinata sitting next to him, leaning on him, rika standing next to the coffee table, putting all her weight down on the hand she had on rikou's shoulder, who didn't seem to notice anything other than the fact she had her hand on his shoulder, while kiba was sitting on the ground with his legs crossed, sasuke was meditating, thinking about what the right way to gain power might be, sakura resting in an arm chair, while shino stood speaking to anko in animal tongue, while she was laying on the couch next to naruto and hinata, and kakashi just stood in the corner reading his book.

"dad!" came the voice of a young woman with blue hair and a worried look on her face. "you're oka- HOLY, dad, who are these people?" she asked.

"these are my bodyguards, well, except for the huge one and the girl in the mask, they're my bodyguards' friends." tazuna said kindly. "everyone, this is my daughter tsunami." he said as the blue-haired woman waved, and everyone said hi, except kakashi who merely grunted.

"oh! I just remembered something!" rikou said reaching into his pocket, completely unphased by the 98 pounds his girlfriend was pushing on his shoulder. "zabuza, here's you 50,000 ryo, this is the last part of the deal, here you go, if you don't kill anyone on our way back to konoha I'll give another 100,000 once we get there."

"you say that like you're going to live." came the voice of a young boy.

"and why wouldn't we, all we're up against is some rich bastard with no strength of his own, you talk about him like he's an evil god." rikou said standing up, catching rika as she fell from his sudden movement.

"he may as well be, he showed us there's no such thing as a hero, that sometimes you must run to live." the young boy said sadly.

"while sometimes you must run to live, there are times where life isn't preservable by simply running." rikou said staring at the small boy with his arm around rika's waist. "the villagers back home hated me, so what would I do when they came after me? I ran, and what would they do when I ran? they followed with even more villagers trying to kill me, I found that the more I ran, the stronger the threats became, so what did I do? I fought back before it became too much for me to handle. you lot failed to do this." rikou lectured.

"WE COULDN'T! HE KILLED DADDY! HE GOT RID OF OUR ONLY HERO! HE BECAME TOO STRONG BEFORE WE COULD DO ANYTHING!" the young boy yelled tears streaming down his face.

"it's not entirely your fault, in a war, one side usually tries to crush the other sides hopes of victory, this is usually a last ditch-effort, gato started with this effort, effectively crushing your hope of winning against him. however, we have not been crushed, a coward who would crush your hopes for a quick profit shall die, so swears the heir to the eitouingu no karasu's power!" rikou proclaimed pointing his thumb at his chest.

"y-you really are strong enough to beat gato aren't you? i-incredible, thank you!" he said tears in his eyes.

"no sweat, er, who are you anyway?" rikou said embarassed that he managed to restore the heart of a kid he didn't even know the name of.

"sorry, my name's inari, tazuna's my granddad, and the lady with the blue hair is my mom." inari said sitting down near the table. "not to sound like I did earlier, but do you have any proof of your strength?" inari asked wanting all the positive reinforcement he could get.

"you've heard of the demon of the mist right?" zabuza asked his arms crossed over his chest.

"yes, once I had a nightmare about him." inari said shivering.

"well, don't worry about him anymore, rikou here set him straight, and now he's a good guy, helping to kill gato." zabuza said putting his hand on rikou's shoulder.

"really? can I meet him?" inari asked with a shimmer in his eye.

"just met him kid, zabuza momochi, at you're service." zabuza said with a smirk.

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_same place, one hour later_

"hey, who's hungry?" rikou asked causing everyone in the room except tsunami to raise their hands. tsunami paled.

"um, I don't have enough to cook for all of you." she said embarassed.

"that's not what I'm getting at, naruto, kiba, rika, hinata, it's been a month since we've last hunted, haku, I want you to gather some natural spices to put on whatever we bring back, anko-sensei, heh, you'll love this job, you get to skin what we bring back, sasuke, have kakashi teach you to climb a tree without using your hands. let's go!" rikou said as they all dashed through the area outside the house.

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_same place 30 minutes later_

"we're back! and we have a huge haul!" rikou yelled as he lugged in a cart of dead rabbits. "hope you don't object to rabbit meat!"

"oooh," anko said happily, "I get to skin all those?"

"these and five more carts, like I said, we got a huge haul tonight!" rikou said happily as they brought the rest in.

"welcome ba- HOLY SHIT! LOOK AT ALL THIS MEAT! THIS IS ENOUGH TO FEED AN ARMY!!!" tsunami yelled when she saw the mass of dead meat.

"yah, pretty much, we may as well be an army." kiba said as haku walked back in with a basket full of herbs.

"anko-sensei, get what you get to do now." rikou said pulling out a hunting knife which soon found itself in anko's hand skinning bunnies at a rapid pace. within a few seconds she was on the second cart, the skin in an empty cart next to the first. "wow, she'll be done soon, glad we got all this meat."

"you do know this is going to take two hours to cook right?" tsunami asked.

"yep, that's why we're gonna go train or something. pass the time." rika said sitting in an arm chair catching her breath after all the flying she did.

"you're strong enough to bring me down and you want to be even stronger?" zabuza asked.

"yeah, why not, I say, train 'till you can barely breath, eat a soldier pill, and train some more." rikou said.

"then I'll train too! I still need to get strong enough to prove my worth to the ninja world!" zabuza said with a powerful grin on his face.


	9. Chapter 9

I'm working as hard as I can! as fast as I can! and I'm not quitting till this and the chuunin exams are finished! NEXT CHAPTER!

The Fox, The Raven, and The Cat raise hell

chapter 9 - hell in the dream realm

_tazuna's house, 1 week later_

"hey, guys guess what!" tazuna said as he returned from working on the bridge with zabuza who had agreed to defend him while he did so. "I've finished the bridge!"

"that's great!" rika said as she stood up, naruto and hinata standing also, congratulating tazuna's hard work.

"yeah! now you can pull the country out of poverty!" hinata said happily.

"don't think gato will be too happy 'bout this though." rikou said making rika jump.

"I JUST GOT DONE TELLING YOU TO REST, NOW REST!" rika yelled smacking rikou on the head.

"but I didn't get up!" rikou said annoyed.

"JUST SLEEP ALREADY!" she yelled making rikou close his eyes grumbling something about yelling too much. "IF YOU DON'T WANT ME TO YELL NEXT TIME THEN DON'T GO FALLING THROUGH THE CEILING!"

"LIKE IT WAS MY FAULT!" rikou yelled back royally pissed about being reminded of his little incident.

"WHATEVER! just, please, rest so you can get better already, I really hate fighting with you over something that couldn't have been stopped, just, please, get some sleep?" she pleaded calming down stroking his purple hair.

"well now that you aren't yelling it'll be alot easier won't it?" he asked earning a laugh before closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep.

"rika," anko began as she had worn kakashi down to allow them to assassinate gato, easily being jounin level, "it's time, with or without rikou, gato's gotta die, and soon."

"yeah, but can we do it without him? I mean, he's the one with the most experience, I don't even now how to use the katana he bought me yet, what can I do?" rika asked.

"you," rikou began, sub-conciously, "can stop disgracing the young one's beliefs, use your wings, use you fenikussu gihou, prove the young one right, rather than disgrace his kindness." rikou said with acid on his tongue, whoever this was, it was not rikou, and it was not friendly to to anyone that didn't act like his friends' usual selves.

"er, rikou! I told you to sleep!" rika said much more worried than before.

"the young one rests, while I speak to you, I am the essence that all the heirs must have, but since the young one's mother is not within, I, the spirit of the ancient karasu, am here to guide him, he knows not of my presence, but I know full-well that the phoenix he cares for is stronger than this! do you want to win? then fight! do you want to live? then kill! do you want his care? then show no weakness!!!" rikou's body shouted making rika get up and release her wings, all four of them.

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_gato's hideout, two hours later_

"gah! where is that useless zabuza?! I should have tazuna's head by now!" gato yelled pacing in his little chamber.

intercom: master, we are meeting heavy offensive force, casualties plentiful, failure immi- the intercom suddenly blurted out as the speaker was stopped, literally, dead in their tracks.

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_outside gato's hideout, same time_

"FENIKKUSU GIHOU! SHINING PHOENIX GUN!" rika yelled rapidly lunging her right and left arms forward, releasing a swarm of light-based phoenix, breathing concentrated beams of burning light at gato's guards. as soon as they were all dead, she ordered her team to continue moving. they were in a hallway headed towards gato's chambers, which were much more heavily guarded. "let none escape alive!"

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_gato's chambers, right when rika and the others got their_

"it sounds like zabuza had a change of heart, and decided to take my money, good thing I hired you two, isn't that right kisame?" gato said as two figures seemed to appear out of the shadows.

"yep, and now that pein found a way to bring itachi back, I can easily rid you of your troubles." the shark man said with a toothy grin, as his partner shook with fear, something he never knew itachi to do.

"this chakra, two of the chakra signatures from all that time ago, the ones who killed me, they're here, kisame, be ready, these guys are well above kage level, and maybe strong enough to fight off a bijuu without any trouble at all!" itachi said fearfully, activating his magekyou sharingan, hoping it might save him.

crash!

"gato!" rika yelled, releasing her wings in a mad fury, "who are you two?! I don't have time for you weaklings! give me gato!"

"I'm sorry little phoenix girl, but we can't do that, maybe you could come with us, help us in our mission." kisame said drawing his blade, shaver, whatever.

"I DON'T WANT TO HELP YOU, I WANT TO KILL GATO! YOUR PUNY CHAKRA IS NO MUCH FOR MY STRENGTH! OUT OF MY WAY OR YOU'RE DEAD!!!" rika yelled, floating upwards.

"puny? let me give you a taste of my power!" kisame said, giving much more than a taste, kicking in every ounce of chakra he had. "WATER STYLE! GREAT SHARK BARRAGE JUTSU!!!" kisame roared sending a huge shark barreling towards rika, but as soon as it got within five feet of her, it completely evaporated.

"well, that's unfortunate, I was hoping you were more than just talk, but no such luck I guess, FENIKKUSU GIHOU! DEMONIC FEAR REVIVAL!!!" rika yelled, her wings flickering more brightly.

"TSUKIYOMI!!!" itachi yelled staring into her eyes, making her attack stop.

tsukiyomi world

"for the next seventy-two hours, all you will be experiencing is what I want you to experience, I control time, space, mass, and can see your fears, this one is particularly interesting, you fear the death of my primary assailant, unfortunately, my purpose in my second life is to kill him, and I won't rest until I do, but for now, breaking your spirit should do." itachi said, as a yell could be heard as rikou attacked him from behind, only for itachi to stab him through the heart, rika's eyes seeming to see from all angles, her mind falling apart as her heart began to break.

"heh, fool, bringing me into your technique was a fools move, you do realise, that this world resides in the dream realm, a place that I am free to roam whenever I sleep, in all essence, I AM RIKOU! AND RIKOU KARASU DOES NOT STAND FOR PEOPLE HURTING RIKA!!!" rikou said releasing his two wings, itachi falling back, his eyes widening in fear. "NOW TO GET RID OF YOUR ADVANTAGE! KARASU GIHOU! LUNAR ECLIPSING TECHNIQUE!!!" rikou yelled going through his divene-arcane handseals, ending on shadow. "without tsukiyomi's physical appearence, this is no more than an area where the outside world does not move, and while the phoenix rises with the solar eclipse, the raven, rises with THE LUNAR ECLIPSE!!!" rikou yelled flying at itachi, itachi's eyes wide in complete terror, as he tried to defend himself from the mad noslaught by the eitouingu heir, but failing miserably.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!" itachi yelled as he was pierced.

"seventy-one hours, fifty-nine minutes, and fifty-nine seconds to go, welcome to hell!!!"

real world

"heh, looks like you're big bad hanyou just got caught by itachi's best technique, her will will be broken soon" kisame said with a smirk.

"you mean that tsukiyomi thing? nah, itachi's boned, rikou was dead asleep when we left, he'll be out till tomorrow." naruto said calmly.

"so what if some kid's asleep?" kisame asked the blonde.

"he's a raven hanyou, he can roam through the dream world while he's asleep, tsukiyomi is in the dream world, ergo, he can control tsukiyomi better than itachi can." hinata explained with a smirk as itachi let loose a blood-curdling scream.

"wow, I knew he was ruthless, but that was just cruel, I like it." rika said, a little confused at why she enjoyed the gorey scene she had just witnessed.

"itachi, what happened?!" kisame asked, amazed as one of the most powerful akatsuki members was sent tumbling to the ground screaming.

"the pain, so much pain, never-ending pain, so, painful." itachi whimpered, shivvering.

"now, can we work out a deal? or do I have to get rikou here to do that for real?" rika asked making itachi bow down.

"DEAL! WHATEVER YOU WANT! NAME IT!" itachi shouted begging like a small child who was trying to convince his mother he didn't take the last cookie, when she saw him take it.

"you come back to konoha where we can place you under a special memory jutsu, to make you think nothing ever happened, that you were happy in your home, happy with your family, and happy with your job as a shinobi." rika said as itachi rapidly accepted and thanked her for not sending rikou to rip his limbs off slowly, over and over, healing his body, and then ripping it apart all over again. gruesome.

"what about you?" naruto asked kisame who was amazed at how much pain he must have felt to be turned into the comparison of a small child watching a horror movie.

"could I just swear loyalty to konoha in exchange for not being this rikou kid's enemy, something tells me that he's one bitchin' torture artist to be able to do this to itachi, I wanna meet him, and I wanna trade torture tips." kisame said putting his, shaving sword, back on his back.

"deal." they all agreed.


	10. Chapter 10

Hey people! it's been awhile, but I'm back, with another chapter. so, here it is, NEXT CHAPTER!

The Fox, The Raven, and The Cat raise hell

ch. 10 - Zansatsu

_1 mile away from the bridge, the next day_

"well, glad I can walk again, sorry if that little episode of mine in tsukiyomi after Itachi started insulting you was too, er, gruesome probably doesn't do the scene justice does it?" Rikou asked, making Itachi wince.

"not really, no." Rika said with a small smile. She had told the others about the incident but they couldn't really understand it without seeing it. "by the way Rikou, what were those inscriptions that you carved into your sword last night when you woke up?"

"enchantment engravings. I carved in 3 of the ones I know, a shadow engraving, a raven engraving, and a soul engraving." Rikou explained, the others noting the dark glow of the blade, indicating the shadow engraving.

"uh, what exactly is the purpose of that soul engraving you were talking about?" Naruto asked, confused about what something with that kind of name would even do.

"why not ask Kisame, he's got one on his sword." Rikou said, making Kisame grin.

"sharp eye kid, how'd you know? once it manifested in it's released form the engraving became unseeable." Kisame asked with a toothy grin.

"you just stated how I know, it's in it's released form, no normal sword has abilities and an appearence so similar to it's owner's personality, without a soul engraving." Rikou explained, confusing naruto even further.

"okay, so, what is a soul engraving? you never answered!" Naruto complained, making Kisame lose his grin.

"geez, you've got a one-track mind, a soul engraving takes a peice of a soul in the afterlife, merges it with the blade, and then takes the form of the blade and manipulates it upon the name of the sword being called. it was derived from a symbol believed to be used by death gods, or shinigamis, sometimes even called soul reapers. anyway, a shinigami uses a weapon called a zanpaku-to, or soul slayer, that bears the symbol of the soul engraving on the butt of the handle, which they are said to use to send souls to the afterlife. in the use of the shiki fuujin, a shinigami called rei is summoned and uses his zanpaku-to to sever the ties of the soul being sealed from the host body, in order for the seal to be successful. anyway, when the soul engraving is finished with being applied, the soul within the blade gains a name, and only the soul of the blade can tell the owner it's name, and only the owner can release the blade's true form, which changes once the engraving is in place. mine is called samehada, shark skin, and it becomes a blade covered in shark scales as strong as steel, which tear away the flesh of the enemy, while absorbing their chakra." Kisame explained, causing Naruto to get a headache from all of the information. "in short, it gives the sword a soul and abilities."

"I'm trying to figure out what my sword's name is, but I just can't think of it. I'll probably have to meditate when we get home and see if I can't get my blade to talk to me." Rikou said as they came upon the bridge. "we finally get to go back home, but the prejudice, sigh, oh well, at least I get to see mom."

"hey, come on, it's not that bad, who knows, maybe teaching sasuke will put us on the village's good side." Rika said as comfortingly as possible.

"yeah, I'll put a good word in for you, the council couldn't touch you if my father says not to." Sasuke said, realizing that Rikou being in a bad mood was very, very bad.

"thanks guys, but all I can really do is unload my stress on a few training dummies." Rikou said as the black streaks in his hair became silver. his pupils shrank, becoming more focused. Naruto and Hinata started feeling their cheeks tingling while akamaru started to growl. Shino's bugs started buzzing while Kisame and Zabuza started to grin. At the end of the bridge, Gato could be seen standing before a large number of thugs and samurai wielding various weapons. "hello, training dummies."

"heh, you've got some nerve," Gato said, oblivious to what had happened within the tsukiyomi, "calling me a dummy. from where I stand, even that hanyou that beat Itachi isn't enough to win." Gato chuckled a little, but stopped dead in his tracks when he heard Rikou and Rika laughing. "hey! are you insane?! I just announced your imminent death! why are you laughing?!"

"oh, don't worry about us, we're not insane..." Rikou began, his laughter faultering only enough to speak that sentence.

"we're just happily amused that you believe you can kill us. seeing as how you are obviously an idiotic billionaire, we'll fill you in on some little-known info." Rika finished, chuckling some more.

"Rika here is a phoenix hanyou, and the heir to the power of the six-winged phoenix, her father, while I am the heir to the power of the _eight_-winged raven, my mother, myself being a raven hanyou. Rika and I have both earned 4 wings of power thus far, our friends over here, Naruto and Hinata, have unlocked 4 _tails_ of power each. we are already stronger than the combined strength of ten kage-level ninja, and all you have are a thousand or so random thugs, without the skills necessary to bring down the vessel of the shukaku." Rikou explained, confusing Gato and his thugs. "in other words, for every 500 thugs here," Rikou began raising his right arm as if he were firing a shadow raven gun. "I need only attack once! KARASU GIHOU! SHADOW RAVEN SHOTGUN!" once he finished speaking 10 shadow ravens blasted out of his hand, each flying through 50 thugs, the thugs disappearing 5 seconds later.

"w-w-what did you do to them?!" Gato asked in sheer terror.

"once a human is touched by a shadow raven, their shadow is destroyed. without shadow, there is no light, without light, there is no life, in other words, I remove them from existence entirely by removing an essential part of life, this part being what all are born with a fear of, darkness. no one ever truly realizes just how important darkness is." Rikou said, the other thugs too frightened to even move. "I did them a favor. you took this job out of arrogance, thinking of what people might do for you if you could boast killing a hanyou, they took it in the hopes of ending their lives, so that they wouldn't have to live with their shame. so, as an act of kindness, I gave them a completely painless death, and sent them directly to heaven, to redeem themselves in the afterlife. you will die painfully. and this pain," Rikou began, taking his sword and holding it in front of him, "shall be dealt by my blade!" Rikou was about to lunge forward and start hacking away at them when he noticed everything but him had turned a dark red. the sun had turned black, and there was no longer any sound. at all. not even the sound of the wind, just total silence. suddenly, he began to hear footsteps. he turned behind him, where he heard the footsteps coming from. he saw a guy, maybe 15 years old, standing at about 5'11" walking towards him. his hair was white and spiky, his skin white as well. he wore what looked to be a typical samurai kimono, a white one. his teeth and the whites of his eyes were black, and his retinas were yellow. the only thing that was normal were his black pupils. he had what appeared to be a sword wrapped in black cloth hanging on his back. he wore a toothy, insane-looking grin.

"so, you want to fight, don't you? fight and protect your friends? perfect, prove you're tough enough on your own, and I will aid you in battle!" the guy said, his voice sounding insane and mocking. (hollow ichigo from bleach: blade of fate, or for those who just watch the show, the white ichigo from when he was training with the vizard.) before Rikou could react, he found himself standing on the side of a blue building, gravity seeming to not be working correctly. the white guy stood on the other side of the building holding his sword which was now unwrapped. it was a large sword, about 5'10" from end to end. the handle was just a part of the sword without a blade wrapped in black cloth. no hilt whatsoever. the blade itself was as white as the guy holding it, the sharpened part of the blade pitch black. "well? aren't you gonna fight? if you just stand there you'll die!" he said charging Rikou.

"who are you?!" Rikou asked dodging a slash.

"I'll tell you," he began, slashing at Rikou only to meet air once again, "once you beat me!"

"you asked for it!" Rikou said trying to release his wings. when he couldn't release them, he was stunned enough to get cut deeply on his left arm.

"in here, you have to win on skills alone! no fancy tricks to help you! now let's see if you truly are worthy of that sword of yours!" the guy said, reminding Rikou of the sword he was holding. when he lunged again, Rikou met him with a slash of his own, catching the white guy off-guard, landing a nasty blow on his shoulder. he attacked again, only to be cut all along his right arm. he lunged once more, but was impaled upon Rikou's sword. his body fell limp, and Rikou sighed in relief. suddenl, the white guy's head shot up, and he stared right into Rikou's eyes with his toothy/insane grin showing once again. "very good! you have proven yourself worthy of being my partner!" he said, putting his hand on the sword impaling him. that sword instantly became the one that the white guy had been fighting with. "a deal's a deal! my name is Zansatsu, (massacre), use me well, and remember to enjoy the fight! until next time, this is good bye, now go cause a massacre!" Rikou found himself exactly as he was before he had fought with zansatsu, only that time was moving again.

"kill them with me! Zansatsu!" Rikou called, his sword becoming zansatsu in a flash of black light. this got many surprised looks from everywhere. he would've questioned everyone, but he decided to deal with the task at hand first. he lunged forward and slashed at the first row of thugs, cutting through them like a hot knife through butter. the blood seemed to seep into the blade as if it were a sponge. Rikou cut at the next row and found that they were easier to cut than the previous thugs. their blood soaked into the blade as well. this continued on for awhile, each row of thugs getting easier and easier to cut through, until he finally reached gato, who had shit his pants many times over. "are you ready to face the error of your ways gato?" said midget shook his head rapidly. "tough." with that said, Rikou cut gato in two very slowly. when he got 3 inches into gato's flesh he began adding salt to the wound. where the salt came from, no one knows, only that gato would fall to hell in a massive amount of pain. Rikou lifted zansatsu and stared at it for a second. he went to wrap it back up, only to find that the cloth was too short. he decided not to bother and went to put it on his back. as he did, the cloth grew and rewrapped itself. he decided to ask zansatsu about it later and put it on his back, walking back to the others. "well, that was interesting. so, are we ready to go?" everyone but Zabuza and Kisame nodded dumbly, while they walked slower than everyone else so as to have a word with Rikou.

"okay kid, one minute your saying you need to go home to talk to your sword about what it's name is, the next your causing a massacre with it in its shikai, what's up?" Kisame asked, getting a confused look from Rikou.

"uh, what the hell's a shikai?" Rikou asked, making Zabuza smack himself in the face.

"I can't believe we forgot to explain it. oh well, alright, you may or may not have noticed that yours mine and Kisame's swords are still in their released forms. well, there are two stages of release, shikai and bankai, our swords are currently in their shikai forms, and in order to release their bankai forms, you must find the blade's true form within yourself. when you find your blade's true form, you will also learn its full name. for example, your true name is Rikou Karasu, but you are called Rikou, it is the same with your sword, you don't know its true name, just that it is called Zansatsu. before you can find the true form of your blade, you must master its shikai form. in its true form, your sword will be more powerful, its abilities at their full potential. it is said to take a full ten years to completely master bankai, but there have been exceptions." Zabuza explained.

"okay, so, what, I have to become a master with a sword to release its next form?" Rikou asked.

"not _a _sword, zansatsu, its abilities are specific to that sword only, and in order to release its next form you must, for one, discover these abilities, and for two, master them." Kisame said, making Rikou understand quite well.

"okay, well, let's just move on, I think I see konoha in the distance."


	11. Chapter 11

hey, hope you'ree havin' a good summer, I sure am, anyway, time for more insanity, or as teachers say, "creative writing", NEXT CHAPTER!

The Fox, The Raven, and The Cat raise hell

ch. 11 - The Promotion

_1/2 mile from the gates of konoha_

"so, what was that thing you said before calling zansatsu's name?" Naruto asked, noticing, once again, the one thing that has the _least_ importance out of everything happening around him. Kisame answered him.

"most swords have a specific phrase that must be said before the name when bankai has not yet been reached. swords like samehada, kubikiri houcho, and zansatsu only need the name to be called once and remain in their shikai form permanently. other blades, blades that revert to their original state after being used, can be released without calling the name of the sword once bankai has been achieved. these swords usually have either bankais resembling an animal, a specific element used in shikai and bankai, or both. according to a branch of the soul reaper legend, there was a soul reaper that once fought another soul reaper, the second soul reaper the commanding officer of the squad the first was in. the were rumored to have been a man named Renji, and a man named Byakuya. Renji was the first soul reaper I mentioned, and he had been fighting to try and save Byakuya's sister who was roughly one hour away from being executed. Byakuya stood before Renji, keeping him from moving along the path he needed to in order to save Byakuya's sister. before that day, Byakuya had believed that Renji was still inferior to him in every way, Renji having only achieved shikai, Byakuya having achieved bankai. Byakuya's zanpaku-to, senbonsakura, recquires the phrase 'scatter, senbonsakura' to be said in order to release his shikai, regardless of having achieved bankai. as Byakuya began to speak the phrase, Renji released his zanpaku-to, Zabimaru, attacking Byakuya without calling the name of his sword. Byakuya was initially surprised by this, and realized that Renji was now his inferior only in the sense that he had yet to master his bankai. Renji had forgotten that he had only just released his bankai, and called the full name of his zanpaku-to, Hihio Zabimaru, which translates into 'Bamboo King Zabimaru'. the form of Hihio Zabimaru was a giant skeletal snake, pink energy binding the bones to one another. in the end, Renji's inexperience with bankai was his downfall, and he couldn't maintain it long enough to finish Byakuya. he had unknowingly uncovered the easiest way to defeat Byakuya, be certain that he never gets the chance to release senbonsakura, and if that fails, make sure he doesn't release his bankai, senbonsakura kageyoshi." Kisame explained as they reached the gates of konoha. Rikou, Anko and Kakashi walked forward to address the guards.

"teams 7 and 8 returning from a mission to wave country. we have 4 missing nins here ready to join konoha under the restrictions of a deal. Zabuza and Haku lost a bet to one of the genin, and Itachi and Kisame are here to be placed under a memory jutsu to make them believe that they are completely and totally loyal to the Hokage." Kakashi explained, earning nods from the guards allowing the large group of ninja entry to the village. they headed straight for the hokage tower, getting many strange looks along the way.

_hokage tower 10 mintues later_

"Lord Hokage, you have... visitors." the receptionist said, refraining from using the word 'demon'. the large group of ninja entered the room with Rikou, Naruto, and Hinata walking ahead of everyone else.

"well, this is certainly a large group, what's more, four of you are missing ninjas. Rikou, I take it this is your doing?" Sarutobi asked, Rikou beginning to grin.

"yeah, somehow Itachi was brought back to life, he and Kisame were scared into agreeing to be placed under a memory jutsu to make them believe that they are loyal to you, otherwise they will remain themselves, and Haku and Zabuza are here because I won a bet, so now they have to be konoha ninja, or else I get to make them into target practice for Naruto and his rusty kunai set." Rikou said with a smirk as Naruto began to grin, Hinata smiling sweetly. you would never guess that she was wishing she was the one that would get to do target practice.

"very well, I will send for inoichi yamanaka, in the mean time, can I ask why squad 7 is wielding new weaponry?" Sarutobi asked, staring at zansatsu.

"I'll tell you later, where's my mom right now?" Rikou asked as Sarutobi took a long drag of his pipe.

"right now she's probably at your house, but you are forbidden from going there until I say otherwise. for now, I need to speak with you three, everyone except for Naruto, Rikou, and Hinata, you are dismissed. Haku and Zabuza, you Kakashi and Anko are to escort Itachi and Kisame to the yamanaka flower shop and explain the situation to inoichi. and at all costs, keep Itachi's identity a secret, if the uchiha realize that their most powerful member is alive and about to be put under a memory jutsu, they may try and manipulate inoichi so that Itachi is loyal to them rather than to myself and future Hokages." the six ninjas nodded and left, covering Itachi's face in bandages. everyone else left to go about their business, apart from Naruto, Hinata and Rikou. "okay, now, tell me, how many tails have you two unlocked, and you, wings, I have a plan, and it will only work if you're as powerful as I believe you are."

"I've got six wings, they've each got 6 tails." Rikou said, enjoying the look on sarutobi's face once that was said.

"well, that's certainly enough to authorize my decision. Rikou, I need a detailed report on what the few non-ninja witnesses are calling the 'white blur massacre', I've been waiting for days to get some kind of clarification." Sarutobi said, Rikou grinning sheepishly.

"I'll only tell you if you promise not to get angry." Rikou said as Sarutobi took another drag of his pipe.

"fine, I promise." Sarutobi said, exhaling the smoke. Rikou drew zansatsu, the cloth unraveling, revealing it's form. Sarutobi nearly choked on his pipe.

"This is my sword, Zansatsu, I bought it as a normal zanbatou about two weeks ago, but a couple days ago before we left wave, I added a soul engraving. the witnesses probably called it the white blur massacre because of the blur left behind while I hacked through thugs working for a billionaire that had been depriving wave country of its funds, along with the billionaire himself." Rikou said, returning Zansatsu to his back as the cloth rewrapped itself.

"okay, so, do you know what your sword's abilities are yet?" Sarutobi asked.

"I only know of one. when blood touches Zansatsu, the blood seeps into the metal, and the blade becomes sharper and lighter, without ever actually gaining or losing mass. I think that it takes the small bit of life energy found in blood cells and merges it all together making a powerful reserve of energy. I'm almost certain that another ability of Zansatsu is to harness that energy somehow, in some kind of long-range blast or close-range power surge, something along those lines." Rikou explained, getting a nod from Sarutobi.

"before you first released Zansatsu, did you have to pass a test or anything? something to prove yourself worthy of its name?" Sarutobi asked.

"I don't think he did," Hinata began, "one second he was talking to us about trying to figure out the name of his sword, the next he calls on Zansatsu, literally, a ten second interval between the two events."

"yes, I did." Rikou said, confusing Naruto and Hinata. "after I brought my sword up to challenge gato's men, time seemed to stop. absolutely everything was still, except for the sound of footsteps, there was no sound at all. Zansatsu, as in, its soul, looks like a white spiky-haired samurai carrying the blade form of Zansatsu on his back. we fought. my wings and jutsu didn't work, I had to beat him using nothing but the un-released form of Zansatsu, while he used the blade on my back. I didn't earn the knowledge of the name of the blade until I dealt a killing blow, which he survived as if it were a scratch on the shoulder, rather than, in that situation, a sword through the stomach."

"I see, well, perhaps you can add a soul engraving to each of the swords that Naruto and Hinata are now carrying. but for now, I need to inform the council of the events that have transpired. I believe it will be best if we have the full group that you brought back from wave, but first, I need to inform you of your promotion." Sarutobi said, catching all of them off-guard. "as of now, you are part a squad of special jounin that will specialize in kenjutsu. please inform Rika that she has also been promoted. I highly recommend that you become skilled in the use of the sword alone, rather than relying upon your demonic powers. against a warrior of superior strength, you need to be able to fall back on skill. all the strength in the world is useless if you can never hit your enemy. the meeting shall take place in an hour."


	12. Chapter 12

sorry if this story appears to be about Rikou, I just have a lot of ideas that only fit with his personality, I'll try and switch the focus to Rikou_ and_ Naruto, along with Hinata of course. NEXT CHAPTER!

The Fox, The Raven, and The Cat Raise Hell

ch 12 - Zangetsu

"okay guys, just be patient, this won't take very long _if_ you're quiet. now, first, I have to get something for my students." Rikou said to Naruto and Hinata as he prepared to apply the soul engravings. he cut his thumb with zansatsu and made a few seals. "summoning jutsu!" one puff of smoke later, a 4-foot tall raven with 4 wings appeared. Rikou handed it a large pouch. "go to that weapons shop near wave and give the note in that bag to the owner, and wait until he gives you two swords.bring them back to me as soon as possible. if I'm training my students be sure to find my mother and give them to her." the raven flew away and Rikou went back to the soul engravings.

"wait, student_sss_? I thought you were only training sasuke." Naruto said/asked.

"I am training sasuke but I am also training someone that I've known since a year before graduating from the academy." Rikou said as he finished about 1/5 of the soul engraving on Naruto's sword. "a_nother_ Uchiha. if you paid attention, you would notice that I only call Fugaku Uchiha and the Uchiha council thieves. most Uchiha are like Sasuke is now. questioning the wisdom of Fugaku and their council. mostly our fault, but still, they're on the right track." thus far, Rikou had finished 3/10 of Naruto's soul engraving.

"he must show good potential for you to train him." Hinata said, making Rikou chuckle slightly.

"_She_, does show good potential." Rikou said with a chuckle as he reached the halfway point on Naruto's seal.

"a girl? an Uchiha girl, bread to do nothing but multiply the number of Uchihas alive, showed enough potential for you to train her while you were still on that, 'all Uchihas must die' kick?" Naruto asked with a quirked brow as Rikou passed 3/4 of the way done with the engraving. Rikou gave nod and Naruto just looked at Hinata with a dumb-founded look.

"it's like our philosophy, born from a queen or an impoverished mother, belief can make you strong. she once told me something, she said, 'I have grown up being taught that if I ever want to be even a lowly genin, I must always fight like an Uchiha. I want to be strong enough to bring Fugaku Uchiha, Sharingan full in his eyes, to his knees, using pure skill. I live by the saying, strength is worthless, if you can't hit your opponent.' those were the words that she said to me when I met her. so you want to know how I met her?" Rikou asked as he finished Naruto's soul engraving. Naruto and Hinata nodded and Rikou continued. "I saved her from a group of male Uchiha jounin preparing to rape her. she was ready to become my slave, but all I asked was to know what she wanted to do with her life. she told me the earlier statement, and I decided to train her in speed and style, that can only be taught. it goes against human nature to fight this way, therefore, an Uchiha nobleman would never fight this way, much less the clan head. what you do, is you run around the opponent quickly, and you move in, and attack with palm strikes for the opening combo, this is in order to steer the opponent into thinking you are going to be fighting hit-and-run, but in actuality, you are going to be fighting with speed and momentum. after the opening attack, you wait for the opponent to come at you, while you wait in a loose stance. once they attack you, you use pure speed to vanish and reappear behind them, and you punch them in the muscles below the shoulder blades, before they can notice that you're gone. next you run around them so fast that they can't see you in a circle, which will create a vortex that will suck out all the oxygen within the circle, suffocting your opponent, transforming speed into a lethal weapon. after roughly ten seconds, your opponent should start to panic and attack you, but if you're going fast enough to create the vortex, you should be everywhere in the circle within the time-span of a single nanosecond. when they attack you, beat back with one punch, which given the momentum gained from your speed, will knock them back into a different edge of the circle, and you begin playing pinball. you can keep it up until they are knocked out, or dead, but once you form the vortex, their fate is yours to decide, because if you try to jump out, you must jump with a force at least 1,000 times stronger than you would need to jump to a building normally, in order to simply jump 1' into the air, here you go Hinata (he just finished her soul engraving), because you would need to exceed the gravitational force created from the vortex, which would be incredibly powerful. I plan on making this girl a taijutsu master, and if anyone else will come to me with the right beliefs, I shall train them to be just the same, a taijutsu master."

knock, knock, knock

"come on in!" Akane shouted from upstairs, the door opening up. an ANBU wearing a shark mask entered and went into the living room where Naruto, Hinata, and Rikou were talking.

"alright brats, I'm going to be the leader of the little kenjutsu squad that old man Sarutobi put together, so you'll be adressing me as Shark while on missions, but elsewhere," 'Shark' said, looking at the skeptical (Naruto), amused (Hinata), and bored (Rikou), expressions on the faces of the 3 teens, "you'll be callin' me Kisame." he said removing his mask revealing the ever-present toothy grin of said shark-man. all the expressions switched to excited (Naruto), Happy (Hinata), and less bored (Rikou).

"they made you ANBU? nice!" Naruto said as he picked up his sword and showed Kisame the engraving. "Rikou just finished putting it on, any guesses on what it'll be?"

"well, if I've gotten to know you over the past two days, either it will be a sword designed to keep the opponent guessing, or one designed to be good for defending your friends, because those are your most distinctive features, unpredictability, and a strong will to protect your friends." Kisame said as no one could disagree with his statement.

"what about mine Kisame, mine has one too." Hinata said showing Kisame. he looked her carefully in the eyes and came to a conclusion.

"I know exactly what this one will be, it is going to be an elegant blade that can easily cut through any non-soul engraved weapon, or substance for that matter, with its deadly efficiency hidden as something relatively harmless. after all, you can cut through any jutsu with jyuuken, and you appear to be a weakling, yet you coul kill a kage all on your own." Kisame said, Hinata smiling modestly. the sound of a raven's screech filled the house and Rikou let his earlier sent-off carrier raven in through the window.

"good job girl, when you get home tell steel I said to give you a break okay?" Rikou said taking the swords and change from the happily screeching raven which vanished a second later in a puff of smoke. Rikou began to put new soul engravings on the swords and soon he, Naruto, and Hinata were on their way to the Uchiha district to deliver the swords to their recipients.

"hey, Rikou, since your students weren't there to claim there swords when the engravings were added, won't the swords technically be owned by you?" Naruto asked, worried about going out for nothing.

"nope, you probably noticed that it took longer to apply the engravings than normal, well, that's because I added two. a soul engraving and a nullify engraving. the nullify engraving, as implied, nullifies all engravings on the sword until an X is carved over it. I will do so once they are in the hands of their intended owners." Rikou explained as they reached the gates leading into the Uchiha district. there weren't any guards, so they just headed on inside and headed towards the main compound. every single person that saw them stared at them hatefully. it messed with Hinata a little, but it was nothing that Rikou and Naruto weren't used to. if something like this freaked them out, the village would be gone in an hour or so. they continued on towards the main house and when they got there they found a large number of Uchihas blocking the doors, staring hatefully at the group. "stand aside weaklings, I am here to deliver one of my swords to a student of mine who lives here." Rikou said, the group glaring at him even more.

"you are not welcome here, you, who would give our great bloodline and give it to that scum hatake." the apparent leader of the group said spitefully. Naruto decided to step in for some long overdue stress removal, what with Rikou doing all the fighting.

"if I remember correctly, you took a mutation, and called it the best thing ever because it, 'couldn't be beaten'. well, Itachi had acquired the final and most powerful form of the sharingan, and you know what, a few six-year olds, with no sharingan, killed him without using so much as a single jutsu, while we exhausted every jutsu in Itachi's arsenal. you took the sharingan for granted, and if Rikou's mother hadn't transferred the power to Kakashi-sensei, my predecessor would've had me get rid of it, permanently." Naruto said, causing the Uchihas to all switch from glares to fear. they had forgotten that the being that changed the byakugan into the sharingan resided within the boy before them, as well as the common knowledge of the boy's attainment of 2/3 of said being's power. the group soon regained their composure however.

"except, now, you don't have an ace in the hole, you wish to be Hokage, and now all you can do is kill us, but that would hurt the village, and you love this village more than your life if you would work so hard at becoming Hokage. however, we can fight you down, and take your chakra out through a seal, you are not fully demon yet, therefore, you can be imprisoned in a necklace, and we can use that necklace to forge a sharingan that can copy bloodlines and fuse them together!" the leader said, charging Naruto, the group following. they would have continued moving forward had Rikou not appeared before them bearing zansatsu in a stance before they could move two feet forward.

"you will listen, and listen well, this sword of mine is known as Zansatsu, it was originally a zanbatou, but I added a soul engraving to it. I am one of the few living beings that can apply soul engravings, and I came here to give Sasuke and Rena Uchiha each a blade with a soul engraving." Rikou said, the looks on the Uchihas faces becoming arrogant.

"so you came here to give 2 loyal Uchihas swords as powerful and rare as the one you're holding?" the leader asked even more arrogantly than he looked.

"yes, but be warned, they may serve your clan, but here is the current order of things, they are loyal to me first, and you second, because unlike you, I don't honestly have a problem with removing their limbs over and over again in their dreams. that simple fear will keep them in line, the fear of me, an immortal torture artist, making sure that they never want to sleep again." Rikou said, returning zansatsu to his back. "and their is the fact that they are my students, and as loyal to the Hokage as I am. if I went to the hokage and told him that you got in th way of me teaching my students, what do you think he might do? I can guarantee that unless you're a jounin or ANBU agent, that I can personally demote or fire you. come on guys, they don't let us through, then Zansatsu can have a little battle time." this made the group back off and let them through, but the leader was fuming. as Naruto and the other 2 were about to enter, the leader stabbed naruto in the heart, which until his 14th birthday, would remain, mortal. Naruto screamed out in pain, the leader gaining a smug grin. Naruto was angry, but refused to kill the man in his final breaths.

'I'll die loyal to konoha, as the fourth did.' Naruto thought to himself, looking down to avoid whatever look might've been on Hinata's face. what he saw was out of the corner of his eye, gray grass. he looked up, and saw everything as it had been before he thought his 'last' thoughts. only it was gray and unmoving, no sound at all. until he heard footsteps. apart from the color of everything, he saw what Rikou had described just the other day. he turned and saw a man in his forties wearing a black jacket with a red interior that reached to his calves walking towards him. he was wearing yellow sunglasses and he had some facial hair but it wasn't quite a beard.

"you are loyal to your home, but it is not yet time for you to die." the man said as naruto found himself standing on the side of a blue building without his wounds, gravity seeming to hold him to the side of the building he stood upon. the man's cloak seemed to blow around in a non-existent wind. Naruto looked around and saw that there were white boxes everywhere. "you must find which box holds your sword, and if you find it, I will give you my name, and sustain your wound long enough for your predecessor to heal it."

"you know about Kurui?" Naruto asked, the man nodding.

"within one of these boxes, lies your dormant powers as a soul reaper. your friend's powers have manifested as the blade known as Zansatsu, in here, yours will manifest as the handle to your sword, hidden within one of these boxes, your sense of smell will do no good here, so you must rely on your own wisdom. only one of these boxes holds your powers, you must figure out which it is." the man said to Naruto, said blonde thinking of a way to discover which it is. then he remember what he said.

'only one holds my powers, so, if I focus on what I sense coming from them, then all I really have to do is find out which box feels different than the others.' Naruto thought to himself as he began to focus. he felt that they all held a different piece of his soul, a different emotion. he remembered what Kisame said, "those are your 2 most distinctive features, your unpredictability, and your strong will to protect your friends." he began to search for which box held the desire to protect his friends, as he was certain that this man was not a manifestation of unpredictability, he was a strong man ready to defend anyone he had to. he found that he felt two boxes with a desire to protect his friends.

"you are running out of time, as long as you are here, your wound will not heal, you must hurry if you wish to live." the man said, causing naruto to focus on one of the boxes. he felt the urge to kill the man that had stabbed him to keep him from harming his friends, but he then remembered what that man had said. "now, you would have to kill us, but the yould hurt the village, and you love this village more than your life". he would never kill the man when he could merely keep him away from his friends. so he opened the other box, and there he saw the handle to his sword. he took it out and showed it to the man before him. "very good, you have chosen correctly, and as such, I will tell you my name. I am known as Zangetsu (cutting moon), use me as you will, simply remember, that with Kurui and I, you are never alone."

Resume Time

"Naruto!" Rikou shouted as he noticed the wound the blonde had just suffered. Hinata looked and shrieked in horror. Rikou turned to the man that had stabbed him and used a technique that he had created from his youki and killing intent. "you bastard, you will feel true fear, KIKUGAN! (FEAR EYE!)" Rikou's normally silver eyes turned as yellow as Zansatsu's, only the black pupil in the center was surrounded by three swirls. each swirl was evenly spaced around the pupil, and went 1/2 the way towards the pupil, and 1/3 to the side, before swirling in the opposite direction towards the pupil, making a formation that looked like three fangs in a spiral overlapping each other. he looked the man straight in the eye and what the man saw next was Rikou charging at him, ripping his limbs off. the man thought it was genjutsu, until he felt the pain of it happening. he screamed in agony and pleaded for Rikou to stop, but his pleas went un-followed. what had really happened was that the high concentration of killing intent, molded with youki created a bloodline that creates pure fear, concentrates it in the eye, and any poor soul that looks into it falls into their worst fears, and stays their until Rikou breaks eye contact with the victim. "you shouldn't have been so arrogant, you poor pathetic bastard." Hinata was crying her heart out, but nearly had a heart attack when Naruto started talking.

"where is he?" Naruto asked as he looked up at Hinata. "oh my god, Hinata, are you alright? I'm sorry if I worried you, please, don't cry, I'm not going to die yet." Naruto said pulling the knife from his back. he looked at Rikou who was glaring into his would-be assailant's eyes. he then realized that Rikou's eyes were different and that the man was terrified. "Rikou, what's up with your eyes?"

"Naruto?" Rikou asked, breaking eye contact with the man, bringing him out of his nightmare. "heh, figures, I unveil my new bloodline in order to get revenge for your death and you manage to get around it, I should've guessed." Rikou said letting his eyes return to normal. the man stood up shaking and glared at Naruto, Hinata, and Rikou.

"y-y-you won't get away with this! you! U-Uzumaki! I challenge you to a kenjutsu match! winner gets your sword! loser commits suicide!" the man said, Rikou thinking Naruto should decline.

"deal." Naruto said, making Rikou look at him like he was stupid.

"Naruto, you do know that this guy is Ryoshi Uchiha, the cough former cough best swordsman in konoha?" Rikou asked.

"I don't care, I'll beat him with nothing but the sword on my back!" Naruto said with a smirk, as Ryoshi walked away.

"Naruto, I know that it's only human to be confident when you've survived a fatal wound but, it's not smart to rely on cheating death, that only ever works once. you only said that _you_ would only use the sword on your back, but he didn't say that he wouldn't use ninjutsu, and he's too arrogant to let himself be beat just because you can live through three times as much blood loss as he can, you can't win alone." Rikou advised, causing Naruto to give his fox-like grin.

"no, I can't, but no one said that I'm fighting alone." Naruto said, making Rikou give him an inquisitive look.

"you mean you learned your-

"exactly, and he says, as long as I hold this blade, I will never fight alone."


	13. Chapter 13

Okay, here's another chapter, not really anything to say at this point, NEXT CHAPTER!

The Fox, The Raven, and The Cat Raise Hell

ch 13 - The Moon Fang is Discovered

_Uchiha District, the next day_

"okay, remember what we went over yesterday, never make the first move in a sword battle, wait and watch, and at the right time, strike the weak point as quickly as you can, and retreat to avoid taking hits." Rikou instructed as they approached the Uchiha Arena. "and don't forget to make the deal, this will make their loss all the funnier."

"no problem, I won't lose this fight." Naruto said as they entered the Arena and Naruto walked to the battlefield where Ryoshi waited. "okay Ryoshi, let's make this just a little bit more interesting, neither of us can use anything but our swords, and if you win, I will use my power to make that enhanced bloodline of yours, but if I win, my friends and I can come and go from the Uchiha District as we please, deal?"

"deal! you hear that everyone? I'm about to win us the greatest bloodline ever!" Ryoshi shouted, drawing his katana. the katana was normal width and depth, but it was 10' long. "let's see you even get close to me with that sword!" Naruto ignored him and drew his sword, standing in a supposedly weak stance.

"you know what the problem with most of you Uchiha is?" Naruto asked as he vanished from view, appearing behind Ryoshi. "you only believe in what you can see." Naruto cut Ryoshi once and vanished again, just as Ryoshi slashed at where he was. Naruto slashed his back, not stopping his run this time, and began to mix Rikou's taijutsu vortex into his sword style, making Ryoshi begin to feel light-headed. he saw a simple solution, simply put his blade in front of Naruto, but what he didn't know was that Naruto was holding his sword in front of him the hole time, causing it to be as if Ryoshi was trapped inside of a metal ring as his oxygen was sucked away. he tried to jump out, but he felt himself get pulled down faster than he could jump. "what's the matter?" Naruto asked, his voice coming from all around Ryoshi. "feeling a little dizzy?" Naruto was succeeding in his quest to get on Ryoshi's nerves. "maybe a little light-headed?" Ryoshi was about to shout when he thought of something. Naruto had been running in a circle, so he would have to be able to keep steady footing, but he couldn't do that if there was a tall sword in the way. Ryoshi crawled towards the edge of the rings and planted the sword straight down, in front of Naruto, causing the blonde to trip and get cut up from the massive amount momentum plowing him into the ground. he was now just as worn from the battle as Ryoshi.

"it seems that your strategy was your own downfall, I can see, you're too tired to do that again, you don't have enough stamina left to go along with your strategy, your finished, demon scum." Ryoshi said as cruelly as a tired man could. he rose his sword to deliver the final strike. when he brought it down, he was amazed at what happened. Naruto started glowing blue, a silvery blue. he found that his blade could not penetrate the aura, and Ryoshi became enraged. "you little cheater! we had an agreement! nothing but our swords!"

"you're right about what the deal was, but this is the power that my sword can release, this is the power, of Zangetsu!" Naruto shouted, raising the sword that was now the same as Zansatsu with the opposite color scheme. it was now plainly visible that it was both Naruto _and_ his sword that were glowing, the sword clearly the source of the glow. something was going on that only Naruto, Hinata and Rikou could see. the form of Zangetsu from within Naruto's mind was standing next to said blonde. (okay, I'm just going to call the forms of the sword from the owner's mind the sword's soul form)

"Naruto, we shall end this with one more strike, focus on the edge of my blade and slash down. this will unleash the attack usable only by two others, one of which is your friend in the stands that wields Zansatsu. it is called, Getsuga Tenshou. (translates into moon fang stabs heaven.)" Zangetsu said, placing his hand on Naruto's shoulder. Rikou heard it clearly, and it became clear how the energy stored in his blade was to be used.

"now, let's end this Zangetsu!" Naruto shouted, raising zangetsu above his head and focusing on the edge of the blade. "GETSUGA TENSHOU!" Naruto shouted, bringing the blade to the ground, a large blue-white blast being release. it looked like the upper-half of a ghostly crecent moon destroying all in its path. Ryoshi was standing in front of the entrance so it didn't kill anyone in the stands, but as Ryoshi attempted to dodge, his left arm and leg were both destroyed. the blast dissipated after going forward about 100 ft., and ended up destroying a house, which incidentally, happened to be Ryoshi's.

"MY ARM! MY LEG! AHHHHH!! THE PAIN!!" Ryoshi screamed, Uchiha medics rushing out to help him. Rikou and Hinata jumped down and ran up to Naruto. when they got there, Rikou looked Zangetsu (soul form) in the eye.

"so, you're Zangetsu, why is it that your blade form is so similar to Zansatsu's?" Rikou asked, Zangetsu closing his eyes.

"it is because of the third person that can use getsuga tenshou, my original owner, you see, I am merely a soul grown out of a piece of a larger soul, which resides in the blade of the current leader of the soul reapers. this same soul reaper is partly a demon known as a hollow, which is a deceased soul that has been corrupted by hate and loneliness. the manifestation of his hollow side, is the being you know as Zansatsu. he had to send his hollow side to a being that fought in such a way that Zansatsu would find this being worthy of his power. his powers are the same as mine, except he uses the life energy of the blood that has touched his blade as a power source, rather than the spiritual power of the being who wields him." Zangetsu explained, telling Rikou of how to master his shikai. simply become adept in using getsuga tenshou in different ways, as well as fighting with the blade itself in different ways. all in all, Rikou thought he could have shikai mastered within a year, if not less.

"excuse me, Zangetsu? but, do you know how I should go about learning my sword's name?" Hinata asked, Zangetsu looking at her sword. he smiled soon after.

"your sword is like Naruto's, in the sense that its soul was originally part of another sword's soul. and as such, it will have the same name. simply meditate, focusing on your sword, and you will soon be able to speak with its soul." Zangetsu said, Naruto placing the sword form on his back. "well, I am going to rest, take care Rikou, Hinata, and even you Zansatsu." Zangetsu said, fading into his blade form.


	14. Chapter 14

still, nothing to say about anything right now, apart from the simple fact that I am going to write the first chapter of a new story immediately after I finish this chapter, NEXT CHAPTER!

The Fox, The Raven, and The Cat Raise Hell

ch 14 - Namikaze

_Naruto's apartment, one week later, 5 A.M_

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

"argh! damnit! I was actually having a _good_ dream this time!" Naruto said to himself, getting up and putting on some pants before answering the door. "what could you possibly need this early?!"

"Rikou wants us to go over to his house for something, he says it's urgent." Itachi said in his ANBU voice, alerting Naruto of the _true_ level of urgency. he had to get there in five minutes or something bad could end up happening.

"I'll only be a minute, head on over." Naruto said, Itachi vanishing with a nod.

_Rikou's home, 2.5 minutes later_

"I'm here!" Naruto shouted, bursting through the door.

"good, now we can tell you guys exactly why we needed you here so early." Rika said, gesturing towards Rikou, signaling him to begin.

"I have asked you all here because we have gained intelligence from my spy ravens and Itachi's reconassaince falcons. there are two people heading towards the village at a walking pace. they are roughly ten miles away, and will probably take a good few hours to reach konoha. however, our intelligence tells us that the two strangers are both female, one in her mid-to-late thirties, the other 15-16 years old. the elder woman bares red waist-length hair, red and white priestess robes, and a 6-foot katana tied to her back. she stands at 6'1", an unusual height for an average woman, especially of her age. the teen also has red hair, half the elder woman's length, black and white samurai robes, and a 5'11" zanbatou on her back, the scabbard baring a fox design. she stands at 5'10". normally these are simply the descriptions of a mother-and-daughter team of traveling samurai from whirlpool, however, the problem with this is, whirlpool country was destroyed during the third great ninja war by Iwa in order to gain more land for bases. what else is odd, upon the backs of both of their upper-kimonos, is the symbol of a fox wielding a katana with its teeth. this symbol, is also known as the Namikaze clan crest. the namikaze clan was destroyed during the Kyuubi's attack, however two bodies were never found. the bodies of Minato Namikaze's, a.k.a. the fourth Hokage's, Wife and Daughter. however, a couple of hours ago when I sent out Kiba's clan's spy dogs, all they could report were two females that had a smell similar to Naruto's." Rikou explained, turning all eyes to Naruto. these eyes belonged to Shino, Kiba, Akamaru, Hinata, Rikou, Rika, Anko, Kurenai, Kakashi, Shikamaru, Kisame, and Itachi. "Shikamaru and I have deduced that they are either imposters that have found a way to learn the kotachi koutai jutsu, or, Naruto is the son of the fourth, and they are the remainder of his family. Naruto, Hinata, Kisame and I will be confronting them, all others wait for the word from my ravens. if the word is call, you get out there and capture them, but if the word is peck, then tell the hokage that we have confirmed their identities as Kushina and Reina Namikaze. Kisame, when we leave is your call, I'm not the squad leader."

"we leave now. here's how we're gonna do this, we run full speed through the forest and once we find them, I want Naruto and Rikou in front, Zangetsu and Zansatsu at the ready. you'll be wearing ANBU masks through this ordeal, and they will be given according to species. Naruto, fox, Hinata, cat, Rikou, raven, Rika, phoenix. agreed?" Kisame asked, the four in question nodding. they were given their masks, they grabbed their swords, and they set off towards the last reported position of the two women.

_9 miles north of konoha, 2 minutes later_

"mom, do you know why there are so many ravens around here? it's kinda creepy." the afore mentioned teenager asked the older woman she was traveling with, confirmed as her mother.

"not a clue, last time I walked this path there wasn't a single bird in the sky." the taller woman said, noticing a presence approaching. "get behind me, I sense 5 incredibly powerful beings approaching at high speeds."

"wha-

"hello," Rikou said, he and Naruto standing at the ready with Zangetsu and Zansatsu in an offensive stance. "tell me, who are you, and why do you bare the appearance of whirlpool country samurai? furthermore, why do you bare konoha's Namikaze clan crest?"

"huh, so, you know that we are wearing the crest yet you haven't seen our backs?" the older woman asked, the younger one drawing her zanbatou.

"I say we take these wannabes down, they don't look so tough to me." the teen girl said, making Rikou laugh.

"I see you have a blatant disregard for current events. I recently used this blade to liberate wave country by slaying a thousand men almost simultaneously. I believe the saying goes, 'looks can be deceiving'." Rikou said causing the elder woman to take up a stance drawing her own blade.

"so you are the one who did that? how did you do it so quickly? there was only one man quick enough to do that." the elder woman said, her eyes narrowing. she had green eyes, piercing green eyes that could almost compare to Rikou's own silver eyes.

"my apologies but I must correct you, doing more than one thing in half a second is considered simmultaneous." Naruto said, making the woman tense slightly.

"how did you know I was talking about the yellow flash?!" the woman asked in slight fear of this mere boy's mental abilities.

"you just told me." Naruto said simply.

"so, you're a trickster, that's rather suspicious given your hair color." the woman said. Rikou took the next question.

"so, you are Kushina Namikaze then?" Rikou asked, nearly making the woman drop her sword.

"how did you know?!" Kushina asked, amazed at this boy's intelligence.

"how many times do we have to say it, you just told me. you aren't very good at spotting a trick." Rikou said tauntingly.

"y'know mom, he does make a good point." the younger girl said only a little less tauntingly.

"and that makes you Reina Namikaze. you were actually a small bit wiser than your mother in this instance." Rikou said confusing the two women.

"how so?" Reina asked, making Rikou smirk beneath his mask.

"you actually noticed my ravens following you from above." Rikou said as Kushina eyed him suspiciously.

"how did you come into possession of the raven contract, last I checked there wasn't one in existence." Kushina said, ready to lunge at any moment. Rikou noticed this.

"heh, go ahead and try to kill me, even if you are the swordmaster you're rumored to be, you won't get past Zansatsu." Rikou said, pulling zansatsu into a defensive position.

"really, who's zansatsu, the boss raven? please, there's no way one of those ruddy birds can beat a trained swordmaster like myself." Kushina said mockingly, making Rikou put Zansatsu into a lowered position. everyone who knew him backed off a few feet.

"so, you think, th-that Ravens, are some kind of, s-scum?" Rikou said, barely keeping a handle on his anger.

"well, they aren't really the most honest creatures, they're never around when anyone could use their help, that shows uncaringness. a phoenix would heal a wounded person with its tears." Kushina said, making Rikou return Zansatsu to his back.

"would you like to know, just _who_, you insulted?" Rikou nearly shouted, holding off the urge to release his wings.

"humor me." Kushina said with a smirk. everyone saw Zansatsu's soul form appear and do the last thing you would expect him to.

"hey, calm down, they might deserve death wherever you're concerned, but if it's out of anger, what's the point? there's no enjoyment, just less pain, and what's the point there?" Zansatsu asked, putting his hand on Rikou's shoulder.

"who the hell is that?!" Reina asked. Naruto answered.

"Zansatsu." Naruto said, looking at Rikou's face as his mask fell off. "and that's our cue, RUN!!" Naruto shouted, grabbing Hinata and vanishing. Kisame grabbed Rika and took off as power began to leak off. Zansatsu regained his insane grin.

"oh well, can't say I didn't try, but if you two just stand there you'll die!" Zansatsu said as he faded out, laughing insanely.

"m-mom, why am I having trouble b-breathing?" Reina asked, staring at Rikou's enraged face in terror.

"**I'll tell you why...**" Rikou said, his voice turned demonic, "**because, the person she insulted ravens in front of, me, was the second-worst person to ever do such a thing in front of.**"

"w-well who's the worst?!" Kushina asked shivering in terror.

"**my mother, the Eitouingu no Karasu.**" Rikou said, releasing all six of his wings. he drew Zansatsu and prepared to strike. when he did, lightning struck Zansatsu. when Rikou looked again, he was amazed at what he saw. "**... Lord Hokage...**"


	15. Chapter 15

alright, I was threatened rather poorly by someone who calls themself, tetsaga tetsiaga, as a few of you may know, but it was a threat to do something that I was going to do anyway. also, in 5 days, I will be stopping my writing until I complete my reading assignment. I'll be going into high school this autumn and I have to have a reading assignment ready for my honors english class and I'm going to be spending about a week of nothing but working on said assignment, in five days. it is obvious that tetsaga tetsiaga can't stand a cliffhanger, and I thought I did the cliffhanger rather badly, so, here's the next piece of the hell raising, and if anyone wants to know something about me for some reason, listen to the song "To Be Loved" by papa roach and tell me which emotion of mine you think it describes, because it nails one of my emotion right on the nose. if you do this and guess correctly, then I will answer any one question that does not involve something that might not be good for my health, or yours for that matter. I will tell you if it does or doesn't when you ask, but get to it, NEXT CHAPTER!

The Fox, The Raven, and The Cat Raise Hell

ch 15 - an odd reunion

"you are Rikou, correct?" the seemingly revived Minato Namikaze asked, Rikou rage slipping back to his completely distrusting and calculating self. this was indeed the yondaime, he had nearly disarmed him using Hiraishin. however he looked a bit different than in the history books at the academy that he and Shino had taken a liking to. he wore a black version of what Zansatsu's soul form did, and he held a Zanbatou that had a blue tinge to the blade, electricity flowing around it. he also wore a large white vest over the outfit that reached down to his ankles. Rikou nodded, preparing to use getsuga tenshou. "so, you are the son of that raven, your eyes certainly reflect your lineage, very noble, very sharp, it seems as though those eyes of yours could cut through someone's soul, tell me, why is it that the others ran off when you got angry? surely you aren't _that_ powerful, that would imply that you are at least as powerful as I am."

"you wanna test me and Zansatsu with teasing then go ahead, you'll change your mind soon enough!" Rikou shouted, raising Zansatsu above his head, and was about to bring it down when Zansatsu's soul form grabbed his arm with a serious look on his face. that just messed with Rikou, Zansatsu was never serious, ever.

"sorry man, but as much as I want to taste his blood, you don't stand a chance against a captain." Zansatsu said looking over at Minato. "do what you will weakling, but if you really wanna test us, then come to konoha in a week, he'll be ready to take you down. call it a promise!" with that, Zansatsu faded back to his sword, his insane laughter echoing in the breeze.

"so, you're one of the captains that Zansatsu taught me about. well, if you're just a captain, then there's no way you'll beat me and Zansatsu! After all, the leader of soul society was barely able to beat Zansatsu, and that was because he had a better reason for fighting than simply killing to fight." Rikou said with a smirk as Minato smiled.

"I'm not here to fight you, I only stepped in because you almost killed my wife. Although I can't blame you, if you had insulted me, I'm sure Kushina here would've gone into a rage as well." Minato said, turning around and looking at Kushina and Reina.

"hey, fourth, I have one question for you. before you died, sealing the kyuubi," Rikou began, gaining Minato's attention, "how did you come to the conclusion that Naruto Uzumaki was the best candidate for holding it back?"

"how did you know that he sealed the Kyuubi into Naruto? Naruto died after the sealing!" Reina shouted, making Rikou glare at Minato.

"you didn't... order Lord Sarutobi to tell them Naruto died, did you?" Rikou asked, Minato wincing under the teen's gaze. "Kushina, you remember that blonde that I was with? the one with a sword similar to mine?" the woman in question nodded with a confused look. "that was one of my best friends, and most trusted colleagues, Naruto Uzumaki, special jounin rank, Konoha special Kenjutsu division." Minato's eyes widened at the title, not expecting someone so young to be at such a high rank. "our leader is a missing ninja whom we brought over to our side, Kisame Hoshigake."

"uh, wow, that's certainly a lot to take in. okay, um, is Naruto able to see Zansatsu when he appears next to you?" Minato asked, Rikou nodding. "okay, that means that Naruto will be able to see me. see, the thing is, only humans with strong spiritual powers can see soul reapers and deceased spirits."

"so, since he can see Zansatsu, who is a spirit, just not deceased, he should be able to see you, who is currently dead?" Rikou asked.

"dead, but not gone." Minato said, feeling a strong killing intent from behind you. Rikou looked over Minato's shoulder, and laughed a little. Minato turned around, seeing his wife and daughter looking ready to castrate him.

"you mean to say, that all this time, you could've been watching over us, helping us, yet, you didn't?" Kushina asked, readying her blade in a, shall we say, less refined stance.

"eh heh, yeah, well, you see, as a captain I have many duties that I must attend to and, well-" Minato was cut off by Reina kicking him in the nads. Rikou's mouth made the shape of an 'O' and he started laughing, Zansatsu appearing and laughing with him.

"that's gotta hurt!" Zansatsu said, he and Rikou rolling around on the ground laughing. Minato fell over and was dragged towards Konoha by Reina, while Kushina pulled Rikou and Zansatsu along, their laughter immobilizing them.


	16. Chapter 16

I'm back, two days until I'm offline for awhile. well, on with the show, NEXT CHAPTER!

The Fox, The Raven, and The Cat Raise Hell

ch 16 - how to reach bankai in a week

"you did what?!" Naruto shouted, Rikou having just informed everyone of the outcome of his encounter with Minato.

"oh calm down, I won't kill him, besides, what's the harm if he has such a high chance at beating me?" Rikou asked, Naruto enraged about Rikou and Zansatsu fighting his father in a week.

"that's just the problem! you're so fast he'll never touch you!" Naruto shouted, severely annoying Rikou.

"and when I do attack he moves his blade faster than I can see, making him the better fighter. his sword swipes are faster, he's physically stronger than I am, and he's smarter and more mature, he'll have a plan!" Rikou shouted, Rika and Hinata having had enough of the argument.

"WILL YOU MORONS JUST CALM DOWN AND THINK?!" the two yelled simultaneously.

"now," Rika began, "Rikou, Zansatsu said you would be able to take him on in a week right?" Rikou nodded, "and Naruto, Rikou is your oldest friend and one of your closest friends, you should trust his word when he says that he won't kill your dad."

"fine, I'll trust him, but if he kills him, I want his head." Naruto said, Hinata trying to calm him down.

"no problem there, I won't kill him." Rikou said walking towards a forest. "now, if you'll excuse me, Zansatsu has to explain how I'm going to be ready to take on the fourth in a week."

--

_training ground forty-four, ten minutes later_

"he he he he haaa, that incident this morning is still funny, wide eyes, pained expression, squeaky voice, everything! ha ha ha ha haa, okay, I think I'm done, now, in order to take on a captain and be _able_ to hold back from killer force, you have to be marginally stronger, and even then, you have to watch out in case _he_ goes for killing blows. the only way for you to get stronger is to master all of my shikai abilities and achieve my bankai form. now, usually my bankai form would be you wearing a white hakama and a white jacket with tatter edges reaching your calves, but, the bankai form of your zanpaku-to is the deepest extension of your soul apart from love, therefore, instead of having the bankai of Zangetsu's former master, this bankai will be all your own. Now, to get there, you have to master the techniques getsuga tenshou, issentzuki, and my strongest shikai technique, sanga herushou (sun fang hell stab)." Zansatsu said, Rikou going off to work.

--

_Ten hours later_

"not bad, you've mastered every technique you know. You even learned issentzuki. Looks like you're gonna have this stuff down in only _4_ days, rather than 7. still, it wouldn't hurt if you got a training partner other than me who can stand against you while keeping this secret." Zansatsu said, his mad grin faltering for a second. "oh well! Tough luck, you don't sleep until you have bankai down!" Zansatsu said while laughing insanely. You wouldn't know it, but if you listened to the way he was laughing, you would notice that he wasn't as happy as normal. Things were getting boring and predictable, he needed something to kick typical everyday reasoning out of the water! Imagine his surprise when he got exactly that.

thud!

"well, what do we have here..?" Zansatsu said as he noticed someone in odd clothing had landed on top of Rikou just before he was going to practice again. The one person was actually two people, one wearing blue jeans, a black hoodie, glasses and white shoes. It was a guy, with wavy and poofy light brown hair. He also had blue eyes, with a gray ring around the pupil. Normally this would only be someone wearing weird clothes, but he clearly had some kind of tie to there world, as he bore a large sword upon his back. Actually, it wasn't all that large in the typical sense. its blade looked to have been cut at the 3-foot mark on the sword. The blade was a typical double-edged sword, apart from it's being 1-foot wide. The handle however, was 4-feet long, and in the same style as Zabuza's sword. It was attached by way of thick chains running across his body. He stood at 6-feet tall, and didn't actually seem to be any older than 14. the next person, having landed on top of him, wore blue jeans and a rather large black t-shirt. This person was a girl, standing 5'10", she had red eyes and light brown hair that reached to her mid-back. On her back was a 5'8" katana that was the normal width and handle size. It was secured to her body via a red cloth attached to the sheath.

"ow, Rikou-kun, I could swear you said we wouldn't get hurt." The girl said, clearly addressing the guy, confusing the Rikou holding Zansatsu.

"no, that's what you heard, I said that we wouldn't get hurt leaving, I didn't say jack shit about arriving. Besides, what's the problem, that didn't even hurt." Hoodie-Rikou said, clarifying him as Rikou. The Rikou holding Zansatsu was lost beyond hope of merely being confused.

"okay, who are you, where did you come from, and why do you have the same name as me?" Rikou asked, Hoodie-Rikou getting off of him and looking him over.

"you, tell me, what is your last name, and the name of the sword you're holding?" Hoodie-Rikou asked.

"I asked you my question first." Rikou said, readying Zansatsu.

"believe me, you don't want to try that, without Keiji, my power far exceeds that of a mere shinigami captain, and you are not even that level yet, now answer my questions, and then I'll answer yours." Hoodie-Rikou said, reaching for the sword on his back.

"well, this is interesting." Zansatsu said, Hoodie-Rikou acknowledging his presence.

"My full name is Rikou Karasu, my sword is known throughout the village as Zansatsu." Rikou said, Hoodie-Rikou bursting into insane laughter like Zansatsu would.

"I see, so, I have to use a different name here… I'll go with another description of my persona, you can call me Rei…" Rei said, the girl looking at him.

"so, you're calling yourself ghost in this world?" she asked.

"no Ari-chan, I'm not, I said persona, not fighting style, I am calling myself a lie." Rei said with a smirk as he drew his sword. "and in this world, I am just as strong as I was where I met you!" Rikou jumped back and assumed a stance with Zansatsu. Rei's sword transformed into a sword that looked to be a completed version of the one he had originally. It was black, as if made of obsidian, and it had a picture of a village burning to the ground on it. "c'mon, let's see if you can get a hang of your Sanga Herushou while you fight me!"

"how did you know about that?!" Rikou asked, his stance faltering. Rei appeared swinging at him the next instant, causing Rikou to block and regain his composure.

"that's not important, when fighting an opponent, you must fight with the utmost concentration." Rei said staring at Rikou's angry eyes. "in other words, if you just stand there you'll die!" fire began to flare out from the sword in Rei's hands, pushing Rikou and Zansatsu away all on its own. "Meet Keiji's flames! The heru no enkou!" (The flames of hell)

Rikou was pushed back into a tree when he came up with what to do. 'it's now or never, this attack of his is way stronger than the getsuga tenshou as I am now, my only chance is the attack Zansatsu told me about. It's this or nothing, if I just stand trying to guard, then this fire will surely kill me!' "It's all or nothing! SANGA HERUSHOU!!" Rikou shouted, pushing all his power into the blast that came out. It was a large blast in the same shape as the getsuga tenshou, but it was larger and instead of being blue-white like the getsuga tenshou, it was red-black. It pushed the flames away very easily, but the instant that it touched Rei's sword, it vanished.

"well, I'm glad that worked, Zansatsu, bring him to bankai within a day so that he can work on mastering it. Knowing your personality, if he charges blindly into your bankai, he'll end up living up to your name." Rei said, putting his blade on his back, the blade having returned to normal. Rikou was about to do the same thing when Zansatsu spoke.

"no way pal, you've got more training to do, we don't stop until you can use all of my powers as a second nature, and without draining all of the reserves of life energy. No, we don't stop until you unlock my ability to create the life energy found in blood on your own!" Zansatsu said, a normal zanbatou materializing in his hands.


	17. Chapter 17

Hey people, I'm not done with my assignment, but I can't actually find it, so, tough luck, I'll have to look for it

Hey people, I'm not done with my assignment, but I can't actually find it, so, tough luck, I'll have to look for it. Any way, let's keep it going! NEXT CHAPTER!

The Fox, The Raven, and The Cat Raise Hell

Ch 17 – new move, Boushi Sanga Herushou

_Woods where Rikou was training, 2 days after ch. 16_

"hahahahahahahaha! Perfect! You've reached bankai! Ah hahahahaha!" Zansatsu said laughing insanely. Ari looked at him funny.

"you kinda need to get out more don't cha?" she asked, Zansatsu regaining his less insane composure.

"I'm a sword, I don't really care what you think." Zansatsu said, Rikou returning to his normal state.

"now I just need some practice. Let me guess, Naruto's Bankai is similar yet different from mine, and its name is _Ten_sa Zangetsu?" Rikou asked, returning Zansatsu to his back.

"nice reasoning, you got it in one. But its very different from ours, his is exactly the same as my former host's, but ours is all our own!" Zansatsu shouted, laughing insanely while fading away.

"so, what're you gonna do now?" Rei asked as he put his sword onto his back.

"not sure, but, two days ago, you said something about an apocalypse, what did it have to do with anything?" Rikou asked, remembering that for seemingly no reason.

"oh, Keiji is the name of the sword on my back." Rei said as he walked towards Ari. "he's been my partner for longer than Ari's been my girlfriend. And in all of my life there's only ever been one person to beat me in a pure kenjutsu fight while I fought with Keiji."

"who? Kisame? Zabuza?" Rikou asked, Rei turning around with a smirk on his face.

"Naruto Uzumaki was the only one to ever put a scratch upon my body, let alone the fact he defeated me the second time we fought." Rei said, walking away hand in hand with Ari.

--

_4 days later, konoha stadium, midday_

"okay then, I've arranged a technique that will allow me to be seen by the people of konoha. Even the normal people without enough spirit power to notice me. This will be a show of what Rikou's hard work can accomplish. Especially if those energy blasts I've been hearing all week were you." Minato said, his hands glowing blue. In a bright flash of blue light, he and Rikou stood across from each other, the sandaime between them. All but 12 people in the audience went wide-eyed when they saw the yondaime. The 12 who didn't were Naruto, Hinata, Itachi, Kisame, Rika, Zabuza, Akane, Reina, Kushina, Rei, Ari, and Rikou's first student whom shall remain nameless.

"as the message said, we are holding a surprise match today to test the skills of one Rikou Karasu. Seeing as how half of you felt it necessary to ignore my law, and the yondaime's wish, by discriminating against this boy and Naruto Uzumaki, we have decided to follow through with a contract that I decided upon. Rikou wins, he and the Konoha Special Kenjutsu Division are promoted to an elite ANBU squad. Yondaime wins, the Uchiha regain the sharingan. Along with the Raven summoning contract." This got roars of approval from most of the audience. There were only 2 people among Rikou's friends who weren't frightened at the possible outcomes. Rei and Ari. If all else failed, then Rikou would simply fall back on his Bankai. "okay, this is a shinobi battle, so anything except for non-shinobi skills are permitted. That means, none of that kidou that you were telling me about earlier. Now, I declare this match shall begin, NOW!" the sandaime jumped out of the way in an instant. Rikou had Zansatsu in a dead-lock with the yondaime's blue Zanbatou in an instant.

"so, tell me, what's the name of your sword? It certainly seems powerful." Rikou said, Minato smirking.

"Arashi."(storm) Minato said, allowing the electricity to flow towards Rikou. Rikou broke the dead-lock and countered with a weakened getsuga tenshou. He found that if he didn't say getsuga tenshou, it wouldn't be strong enough to barrel through everything in his way, just a strong blast that would blast towards his opponent with great force. Minato blocked the attack easily and sent more electricity towards Rikou. The attacks were surprising the hell out of the audience, and Rika was on the edge of her seat worrying about Rikou. Rikou moved out of the way of the lightning attacks and released a few more of his getsuga tenshous. The yondaime was being pushed to the edge of the limits placed on his powers while in the human world, and he was starting to have trouble keeping up with Rikou's blasts in shikai. So he decided to remove that problem.

"bankai, Rasen Arashi!"(spiraling storm) Minato shouted, the blade of his sword evaporating and forming a cloud above him. "this is the power of my bankai, to create a storm that spirals with electricity, chakra, and reiatsu. It will pour rain to the ground, and everywhere that a raindrop lands, the anchoring seal of the hiraishin no jutsu appears! Meaning, once you are caught in the rain-storm, I can move anywhere around you in an instant!"

Rain began to fall upon the battle-field as Rikou looked around, and sure enough, all over the place there were complex sealing formulas. "well, if you're gonna go all out, then I don't see why I shouldn't!" Rikou said as he stood up straight and jabbed Zansatsu into the ground. "ISSENTZUKI!" Rikou shouted, a massive pillar of red-white energy appearing. (A/N, instead of his getsuga tenshou and issentzuki being the normal white with blue outline, it's going to be white with red out line. Also, sanga herushou is going to be black with blue outline now.) the power was so immense and raw that it pushed Minato back a ways. Rikou ended the technique and prepared a horizontal strike with Zansatsu. "GETSUGA TENSHOU!" Rikou shouted, releasing the red-white blast of energy. It was much larger and stronger than it was before, surprising Minato. Once it got close to Minato the cloud all shot fierce bolts of blue lightning at it, merely slowing it down. Minato was retreating slightly to avoid the attack. He was very unsure if he could defeat Rikou's shikai at the 20 power that he had to stay at. Minato was sure that that was the strongest technique that he would have to face. "take this one! SANGA HERUSHOU!" the blue-black blast barreled towards Minato. This surprised him because sanga herushou was double the size and strength of getsuga tenshou when used by Zansatsu. Minato used the time he had to vanish in a yellow flash and appear behind Rikou. He flashed out again when he used the wordless sanga herushou, which was as large and powerful as the full-strength getsuga tenshou. Minato was being pushed to the limit, especially since he was now on the run since he was outclassed in raw power. He paled when he saw what happened next. Rikou tossed Zansatsu into the air and grabbed it by the cloth that hung off of the end, and he began spinning it at incredible speeds in a large white blur of a circle. "this is one of the techniques that I came up with to use in case I either didn't achieve or need bankai by this time! BOUSHI SANGA HERUSHOU!"(spinning sun fang stabs hell) Rikou shouted, sanga herushous being shot out every time Zansatsu slashed towards Minato in the large circling saw form. This resulted in sanga herushous being released at a rate of 120 blasts per minute, or 2 blasts per second. Minato was now running out of chakra from using Hiraishin so much. The massive blasts were hard enough to avoid the first time, but now with so many being launched he was having trouble with finding any spot that was safe. There was a barrier protecting the audience, one made from Akane and a few of her Raven guard specialists, which was holding Rikou's powers off from destroying the audience. Minato ran out of chakra just after Rikou stopped sending blasts. "so, do you give up? So far I've only exhausted 1/10th of Zansatsu's energy reserves, and now that I've achieved bankai, they're almost completely recovered already." Minato was amazed. All that and his zanpaku-to was just going to recover what it lost? On top of that, he had enough energy to use the strongest technique that he's revealed over and over again at an incredibly rapid rate, without exhausting more than 1/10th of the energy reserves that he had prepared. He had no choice. If he continued this battle, his only means of escaping the attacks gone, there was no way that he would win. Not without some very powerful kidou.

"heh, wow, I never thought that I would be beat while in my bankai. And you said you achieved bankai, so that just means if I wasn't restricted to 20 of my over all power that you would just use your bankai and beat me anyway. I've got no choice, nor do I have any chakra left. Old man, I'm afraid I must forfeit." Minato said, most of the audience going wide-eyed and slack-jawed.

"very well, I declare the winner of this match, Rikou Karasu. Rika Nanashi, Hinata Hyuuga, Naruto Uzumaki, and Rikou Karasu are now ANBU rank, under ANBU captain Kisame Hoshigake, Konoha Special Kenjutsu division." Sarutobi said, taking out a pipe and lighting it. Most of the audience began to shout obscenities at Rikou and the other 3, the council coming down to the battle-field from their seats high in the stadium.

"Lord Hokage, surely this is some sort of joke, if this was truly the yondaime then he should've been able to defeat this de- er, boy." Danzo said, almost breaking the law.

"actually, even if I were at full strength, this kid would've beaten me. He just would've had to kill me to do it. And there are two other people in this stadium, these people being able to take me down at my full power blindfolded. Isn't that right, Rikou, Ari." Minato said, looking at the two in question.

"I'm going by the name Rei here." Rei said, smiling at the deceased Hokage.

"calling yourself ghost?" Minato asked.

"I'm calling myself a lie." Rei said, making Minato laugh. "it is good to see you again Minato. Naruto-sama sends his best regards."

"you were sent here by someone with my name?" Naruto asked, Ari dropping to her knees in a bow.

"greetings Shikage-sama!" Ari said, turning all eyes to Naruto. Rei sweat dropped.

"Ari, that's not this world, that's the last one we were in, y'know, the one where I found you?" Rei asked.

"oh, right." She said, getting up. "well, anyway, congrats on your promotion!"


	18. Notice

A THOUSAND APOLOGIES TO THE _SEVEN_ WHO CARED ENOUGH TO REVIEW!

I AM GOING TO COMPLETELY REDO THIS STORY!

IT HAS BECOME RIKOU-CENTRIC AND I DISLIKE THAT FACT!

RIKOU WILL BE A SIDE CHARACTER AS ORIGINALLY INTENDED!

HINATA WILL TAKE HIS PLACE AS A SECONDARY MAIN CHARACTER!

YOU PROBABLY ALREADY KNOW BUT REI WILL REMAIN REI AND ARI WILL BE MARRIED TO HIM NOW!

THE STORY WILL REMAIN AS IS UNTIL AFTER I HAVE COMPLETELY REDONE _ALL 17 CHAPTERS_!

I GIVE ANOTHER THOUSAND APOLOGIES AND A MILLION THANK YOU'S TO THOSE OF YOU WHO REVIEWED, AND PLEAD TO YOU THAT YOU BE PATIENT! SPRING BREAK HAS GIVEN ME THE DRIVE I REQUIRE TO CONTINUE/REPAIR THIS STORY!

FAREWELL TO YOU, AND **** ALL YOU FREELOADERS WHO DON'T GIVE FEEDBACK! I REVIEW EVERY ****ING STORY I READ, ***HOLES!!!


	19. Chapter 19

I am no longer afraid to admit that I am a piss-poor writer. In honesty, I have used this site selfishly so that I could find my way through my personal stresses. I have overburdened myself and sent every idea to paper, but too many of these left my personal collection, and were uploaded. I must apologize, but the stories this note appears in are to be deleted, as they were ideas that were doomed to remain premature. I have seen a few things, done a few others, not many bring me pride, and fewer were actually right, but I can see my faults and I would like any who can still stand my person after this note to give as much critical review of my stories' faults as possible, I have been too soft on myself with these stories and I want to finish a few so that I can finish my childhood and move on.

Those of you still reading will be promised a story that has a fully-matured plot before I go to paper. I will show you the truth of myself, I will have no OC, and everything will have a reason.


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